


It Was Never About Jealousy

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Series: Brothers [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Back Story on Gavin, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Chloe knows best, Elijah is kind of clueless, Family Drama, Gavin hates everything, Gen, Half-Brothers, Panic Attacks, Post-good ending, Siblings, connor tries to help, humans are stubborn, no one knows how to express their feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-05-29 06:45:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: No one knows Gavin Reed is an illegitimate child and the half-brother to Elijah Kamski. At least no one does until Connor does a fucking DNA analysis on him without him realizing it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking about ideas for this AU for forever and I just couldn't help myself. I'm finally writing it! I hope you enjoy. Also, I picture Gavin as a cat person and he named her Boo after the kid in Monsters Inc because he's a gen Z and was a total Disney nerd as a kid.

Gavin technically didn’t remember his first meeting with Elijah. However, there were fabricated memories thanks to the stories that he’d been told.

He’d still been two at the time. At that age, he had no concrete hold on who his mother was or what was going on. He just understood that people were sad and crying, which made him want to cry, and that anyone that tried to hold him just didn’t feel right.

From what he knew, his mother’s funeral had been a small gathering. Gavin never did find out who were the people that attended. Once she died, Gavin was stripped from anything in her life. The only person he actually knew who had been there was Zachariah Kamski. His father had taken him, sternly told him to stop the nonsense, and Gavin had responded immediately, quieting in his arms.

Had anyone challenged his father? Had anyone been angry that he was taking custody despite not being present the first two years of Gavin’s life? Gavin just didn’t know. He didn’t know if there was a friend or a supposed to be godmother or godfather. He didn’t even know if he had grandparents on that side of the family. He just knew that after the funeral, father had taken him home, placing him in the same room as Elijah and the nanny.

Elijah had just turned three and though he had started learning to talk at the age most babies did, he hadn’t been a very chatty toddler. His parents had often talked about if there was possibly something wrong with him but when Gavin had been introduced to the mix, Elijah had responded immediately.

Gavin had whined and cried at the poking and prodding and orders from Elijah.

“No, play! Play now!”

Gavin hadn’t wanted to, at the time not understanding but still carrying the somber mood of the funeral with him.

“No sad,” Elijah had said as the tears had started to come. He’d grabbed some stuffed animal, shoving it into Gavin’s small hands. “Stop.”

Gavin had stopped, holding tightly to the small toy and Elijah, satisfied with the results, managed to force him into playing.

Most people would have laughed if Gavin told them that he had met Elijah Kamski at all, and they’d believe him even less if he’d told them that had been his first meeting with the now world famous man. Not that Gavin bragged about his contact. In fact, great lengths had been taken to erase the family ties. Elijah had been more than happy to help after their falling out and no matter how deeply someone tried to researched Gavin Reed, they’d never find the connection.

At least that was the plan.

But then the fucking revolution occurred. Apparently these fucking tin cans had rights now? Had souls? were alive? It was fucking bullshit, only made worse by the fact that Gavin just fucking knew what had caused it all. People had their theories, many believing that a natural mutation had occurred in the coding that had led the androids to wake up. Maybe that was technically right but Gavin knew that wasn’t only it. Fucking Elijah…he’d wanted this all along. He was up in his house, away from the world, playing god, and Gavin was reaping the consequences.

Fucking typical.

It wouldn’t happen today, or even necessarily tomorrow, but they’d be replaced. They’d all get fucking replaced except for Elijah, the creator, the god, the fucking prick himself who’d eternally live on in the perfect fucking memories of the androids around them.

The moment the damn prototype had walked into their precinct, Gavin had just known it was going this way. He still wished he’d managed to kill Connor in the evidence room, but something told him that wouldn’t have mattered at the time. A new body would have been rolled out and the revolution probably still would have occurred. Gavin wouldn’t have stopped anything, just delayed the inevitable.

And that’s what he was doing now. He was just delaying the inevitable. Sure, plenty of the androids that had been owned by the precinct had left, but Gavin was sure Connor wasn’t the only piece of plastic that wanted to play detective, even if he was the only official model meant to do that. Others would come and the humans would dwindle and then Gavin would be left with nothing all because of his fucking brother, because of the fucking Kamski name.

Fuck the Kamskis. His father was lucky he was dead because Gavin would have beat the shit out of him now if he could (that was a complete lie; he had never even back talked father when he’d been alive but the thought was a nice one).

For the moment though, Gavin was stuck. Should he just let everything slip from his fingers? Or should he try and hold down the damn job while he still had it? He didn’t know what the right answer was, or even if there was one. But if he chose to stay, Gavin suddenly realized his choice would be much more difficult.

The day he realized this, Connor was officially instated into the police service, not as an android but as a fucking person. Connor had been at the station a few times before, but now Gavin knew for sure that it was a permanent thing. Fuck his life.

Gavin glared at Connor as he sat at his now permanent desk just when Anderson walked by.

“You sure you don’t want to leave early? You’re kind of stinking up the room with booze,” Anderson harshly said, referring to the past times Gavin had cruelly called him out for the same thing.

“Fuck off,” Gavin just growled. The entire situation was just made worse by the fact that Anderson was right. He looked like shit and he smelled like shit too. Sure, he was a hard-ass and not everyone had always agreed with his methods, but he’d still been good at his job. He’d gotten it done. Now he was beginning to resemble Anderson just a little too closely.

He got up and went to the restroom, washing his face and trying to bring some life to his hollow eyes. The stubble would start becoming a beard soon if he wasn’t careful and his hair was sticking up in a few places. God this fucking sucked.

Shuffling back to his desk, he fell into his chair with a groan just as the piece of plastic walked over and took his flask off his desk.

“What the fuck—”

Connor set down a cup of coffee instead. “I must insist you sober up detective.”

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do!” He tried to stand but Connor shoved him back into his seat. It didn’t matter that people were staring. It didn’t matter that they were in the bullpen, in the center of the room. Gavin would have fought Connor without hesitation if only he wasn’t so damn tired and that simple, quick motion hadn’t caused his head to spin.

“I insist,” Connor repeated, a small, incredibly annoying smirk on his lips. “You can get your flask back at the end of the day.”

“Oh just fucking keep it! I don’t care,” growled Gavin.

Connor just cocked his head to the side, his LED blinking yellow a few times before he walked back over to Anderson. The man laughed good and hard before passing several dollars to Connor. A bet?! A fucking bet?! Christ, this day was just getting worse.

He let his head fall onto his desk with a large groan. He didn’t want to deal with Connor and fucking deviants and androids. He didn’t want to lose his job. He didn’t want to be fucking replaced even though he knew it would happen at some point. There was a part of him that just wanted to give up now but Elijah would just get a fucking kick out of that wouldn’t he?

Besides, if Gavin did quit now, he doubted he’d be able to get back up. He still had a little bit of self preservation left.

With that in mind, he finally peaked out from beneath his arms to see the cup of coffee. He did need to sober up. Gavin could silently admit the fucking android was right about that (even if he’d never say it). He took the cup and hesitantly sipped from it. Alright, so the fucker hadn’t poisoned it or done something shitty to it. It was just a normal cup of coffee.

He sipped from it again and probably wouldn’t have thought about where it had come from except that he glanced over to Connor and Anderson again only to see the fucking prick actually laughing as he took more money from Anderson. Another fucking bet! He spit out the coffee quickly and then promptly threw the full cup into the trash with a growl. He could hear more laughter from behind but was too tired to fight and simply put his head down on his desk again.

The day slowly got worse and worse as he got behind on paperwork, got yelled at by Fowler, and watched as everyone kindly greeted Connor and smiled at him like he had feelings or some shit. The moment he was able to, he got up and went to leave for home. He was almost out the door when Connor stopped him.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Your flask detective,” Connor calmly said, holding out the object.

Gavin aggressively snatched it from him. “Whatever. Move.” He tried to walk away. He just wanted to go to bed and sleep but the fucking plastic actually stepped in front of him. “What!”

“You have a thirty-six percent genetic match with Elijah Kamski,” Connor calmly stated, “along with several hereditary genes that suggest you share at least one parent. Do you know this?”

Gavin froze. His heart hammered in his chest as a pained noise escaped his lips. “If you know what’s best for you, shut the fuck up and move.”

“Are you not aware of the relationship? My research says that it is not uncommon for powerful men to have affairs—”

Gavin grabbed Connor’s collar, shoving him into the nearest wall. “Shut the fuck up and mind your own fucking business if you know what’s good for you!”

Connor’s LED blinked yellow, analyzing the inflection in Gavin’s voice. On words alone, Gavin’s statement would have been perceived as anger. However, according to Connor’s records, the inflection was different. Gavin sounded more fearful than angry.

“Stop fucking analyzing and just fuck off! Alright? And stop snooping around!” Gavin pushed Connor back just as it looked like several people were ready to intervene. However, he was already through the doors and out the lobby before anyone else could stop him.

Gavin went to his car. It was an older model, not a relic like Anderson’s but not fully self-driving like some of the flashy models that had recently come out for the public. Gavin could drive it, and he normally did since he’d grown up driving his own cars, but he wasn’t really in the right state of mind to do that and changed the settings, the wheel retracting and the car easing into traffic on its own.

He kept an eye on the settings as he was supposed to do, taking several sips from his flask as the city passed him by. The drive was uneventful as he finally ended up at his apartment building. He shambled up the stairs, his door creaking open as the familiar meow greeted him.

“Hey Boo,” he murmured as the long haired cat rubbed against his legs. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll feed you. Just fucking hold on a minute.”

He dropped his flask in the sink before grabbing a can and throwing its wet contents into her bowl. With Boo appeased and distracted, Gavin headed to his bedroom and collapsed in his bed. He rubbed his eyes before rolling over. He reached for the lowest draw of his bedside table. There was a lot of crap in it that he probably needed to look through. He ignored the contents though, throwing shit aside before grabbing the picture frame near the bottom. The glass was cracked and his old blood almost black from when he’d punched it years ago.

“You’re still causing fucking problems for me, even now you fucking prick,” mumbled Gavin before he threw the picture to the floor and rolled over.

Boo came into the bedroom, sniffing at the frame. Gavin and Elijah, both seven at the time, stood side by side. Gavin had been holding the camera out but his arm had been too short, meaning his own face was partially cropped out and the lighting was all wrong. Part of the photo was torn from the broken glass and there were bits where the blood had stained it. Boo licked it, decided it wasn’t of interest to her, and then jumped onto the bed as Gavin fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I probably won't post a new chapter per day but I had a lot of time to write today and wanted to get it out since I was finished. Warning, the start of this chapter gets really harsh really quick. I went back and forth on how I was going to portray their father and Elijah's mom and I think the way I got it across here will be a good pay off in the end. I'm curious to hear what everyone thinks and hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Also, this will mainly be from Gavin's point of view though I will probably have a chapter or two where Elijah gets his moment to shine as well.
> 
> Thanks again and hope you enjoy!

By age four, Gavin was already becoming loud and boisterous and quite a troublemaker at his preschool. He talked loud and didn’t raise his hand. He always stood in front of Elijah as teachers and other kids tried to get him to interact with them. Couldn’t they tell he just wanted to be left alone? But home was completely different. He followed Elijah’s lead instead. He still talked more than Elijah as his parents still seemed to hate Elijah’s choice to usually not speak except to him, but otherwise he copied his brother.

He made sure his room was clean, even if he wasn’t as good at putting his bed back together as Elijah. He ate all his greens, even if he made faces and Elijah didn’t. Gavin made sure to be quiet after seven, no loud noises were allowed that could disturb father.

Gavin learned from Elijah. The consequences far outweighed in temporary gain and Gavin copied him at home as best he could. Of course, at such an impressionable age, what little words Elijah would say to others Gavin started to copy as well.

“Thank you mom.”

They were just three simple words that Elijah had said every now and then in the year Gavin had lived with him. So Gavin finally said it too as he sat at the table and food was placed in front of him. The hand switched from the plate to grabbing him by the wrist and pulling his arm into a position that immediately made him cry out. Elijah glanced up and then went back to eating.

“I am not your whore of a mother and you are not my son. You will address me as Mrs. Kamski or ma’am. Do you understand?”

“But I thought—”

“Do you understand?!”

“Y-y-yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes M-mrs. K-kamski,” Gavin gasped out, tears streaming down his face.

“You’re hurting him,” Elijah softly said, continuing to pick at his plate.

“Not for me, not for your father, but you talk for him all the time? Christ Elijah, you have to interact with the world, not just who you choose,” his mother bit out. She sat with a huff at her own place, staring at the empty chair where their father rarely was before pouring a glass of wine.

“I like Gavin,” Elijah murmured.

“So you don’t love your own mother? Of course it would be the whore’s child who isn’t retarded.”

“I’m not,” Elijah softly said, still looking at his food.

“Then act like it!”

They both remained silent except for the occasional sob from Gavin. When Mrs. Kamski took up their plates, they both excused themselves and Gavin followed Elijah to his room. They both sat on Elijah’s bed. Gavin looked to the clock on Elijah’s bedside table. It was too close to seven to watch a movie. Even if father wasn’t home right at that moment, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Gavin picked up Elijah’s Rubik Cube. He twisted it around, changing the order into chaos and then passed it to Elijah who slowly started to look it over, planning the path to put it back together. Elijah glanced up and wiped at Gavin’s cheeks.

“Don’t be sad. I don’t like it,” Elijah murmured before turning back to the Rubik Cube. He slowly started to make order out of the colors as Gavin leaned against him and held his hurting arm close to his chest. They fell asleep in Elijah’s bed.

* * *

Gavin rolled over. He’d been trying hard to not think of Elijah yet everything just brought the memories back. The androids, the news, the radio, his own dreams. And then the plastic prick somehow had found out… Just once Gavin would love a day when he didn’t think about Elijah. With a groan, he sat up and got out of bed.

 _Crack_.

“Fuck.”

Gavin leaned down and picked up the now even more broken picture, tossing it into the wastepaper basket before going to the bathroom. He groaned and grumbled and Boo nearly made him trip several times as he fed her and started to make toast.

He opened up his fridge. It was tempting to grab a beer. He looked back to the flask in his sink. It was tempting to fill that up. Instead, he forced himself to close the fridge and started making coffee.

Boo meowed a few more times and Gavin petted her before leaving with a piece of toast hanging out of his mouth and his thermos in hand. He got in his car, changing it back to the manual mode. He shoved the rest of the toast into his mouth, chewing without any regard for the crumbs flying everywhere as he pulled out of the parking lot.

He’d already decided he was going to keep trying, at least until he was either replaced or some other opportunity came his way. Because of that, he went into work with a clearer mindset than he’d had in the past few days. He made a point to avoid the direction that Anderson’s and Connor’s desks were at and just focused on catching up on the paperwork.

When he was out on his lunch break, he got called to a scene. It was an open and shut matter. Wife caught her husband cheating in bed and shot them both in the head. See, it wasn’t the crazy genius serial killers that people typically had to worry about. The partner next to you was way more likely to kill you than a stranger, at least statistically speaking.

After a few interviews with neighbors and friends, they found the woman holdup at her sister’s home. They were on a vacation, leaving the house open and empty, a temporary refuge. After some negotiations were made back and forth, Gavin managed to convince her to drop the gun and finally put the cuffs on her.

Gavin would let someone else bother with extracting the confession, the woman definitely seemed unstable enough to just admit her guilt, and the found fingerprints and blood on the clothing would confirm the woman was present during the crime.

Back at the station, he headed straight to the evidence room and made the new case file where he stored all the evidence. He’d start on the paperwork, maybe finish it up if he felt like it, and then head home. Not a bad day all in—

“Hello Detective Reed.”

“Jesus Christ!” Gavin spun around, holding the display table to keep himself upright. “Don’t fucking do that!”

“Detective Reed, I’ve viewed your history—”

That cold feeling in Gavin’s chest started to form again. “I told you to stay the fuck out of it!” His hand instinctively went to his gun.

“I’d suggest you not do that. Considering our score, the odds are against you and the new laws equate the murder of an android to that of a human with similar sentencing,” Connor calmly stated.

“Fuck you,” growled Gavin, but he let go of the gun.

“As I was saying, official records state that you grew up in an orphanage near here but there is no photographic evidence and the paperwork is sparse—”

Gavin shoved Connor. “Stop fucking poking your nose into this shit!”

“I also contacted several staff members and children that would have been there when you were. None of them could recall you,” Connor said. “I also looked up the elementary school Elijah Kamski went to. There was no evidence that you ever attended but upon speaking with former classmates, they confirmed your attendance. Many of them had forgotten you and most did not make the connection that you are both related, only commenting that at that age, Kamski was unresponsive to most outer stimuli and you were the only child that really was around him.”

Of course. Of course Connor would be able to look past all the fucking work that had been done to erase Gavin from Elijah’s life and just put the pieces together like that.

He sarcastically started clapping. “Oh good for you. You solved the fucking pieces! Just leave me alone and—”

“Editing official documents like this is a crime detective. I’ll need to report this to Fowler.”

“Wh-no! No you can’t fucking—”

“Then explain to me why your relationship with Elijah Kamski is hidden.”

Gavin’s mouth dropped before he covered his face and groaned loudly into his hands. “I’m being blackmailed by a high class toaster.”

“I suggest you make a decision. I can send what I found to Fowler before you could even lay a hand on your gun.”

Gavin raised his fists in the air, practically shaking and finally fell on just slamming a fist into the display screen behind him. “How!? How did you even fucking find out?”

“When I met with Kamski, there was minimal contact but enough was there for me to record his genetic code. I can store trillions of genetic codes in my storage systems. It’s…a hobby I suppose. I find the information quite fascinating. It’s the equivalent to someone looking through a fellow android’s code and trying to understand how there is any difference.”

“It’s not fucking equivalent and that’s creepy as shit.”

“I gathered your genetic code from the saliva left on your flask.”

“Oh-oh that’s fucking disgusting Connor!”

The android just cocked his head to the side and blinked. “So, your verdict detective? Should I inform Fowler?”

“Why are you even fucking bothering me? Why the hell do you even want to know!?” yelled Gavin.

“I only met with Elijah Kamski once, but that one meeting proved to be…confusing. I found his reasoning to be illusive and unclear.”

“He’s a fucking prick. It’s not that deep,” Gavin muttered.

Connor continued on like he hadn’t heard him. “I think getting to know someone who grew up with Kamski would help my understanding of him. You can understand wanting to learn more about your creator, can’t you?”

“Not really,” Gavin deadpanned. The disappointed look on Connor’s face at least made Gavin smirk.

“Well…either way, I still need your verdict detective—”

“Yes! Fine! Just don’t fucking tell Fowler! Or fucking anyone for that matter.”

“That’s acceptable. Now Detective Reed—”

“And no fucking twenty questions!”

“I have more than twenty questions prepared to ask.”

“That’s not-fuck! Just, you get one question. Alright?”

“One question in exchange for keeping your secret does not seem adequate.”

“Then just-just one question per day. Ok? You get one moment to fucking annoy me and the rest of the day you leave me the fuck alone. Got it? You say your question and then fuck off.”

Connor’s LED blinked yellow several times before he nodded. “Deal detective.”

Gavin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he was going to really fucking hate this but at least he’d managed to convince Connor to keep his mouth shut. The last thing he needed, especially right now, was his relationship with Elijah coming out.

“Fucking shoot. I’m hungry and I want to go home,” whined Gavin.

“Which parent do you share?”

“Our father, Zachariah Kamski.”

“It is typical in Western culture for the children to take their father’s last name. It’s known as paternity—”

“I know what paternity fucking means!”

“So why is your name different—”

“No! You got your question for the day now fuck off.”

“Very well. Until tomorrow Detective Reed,” Connor said. He then smiled and dear god was it agonizing not being able to punch him in the face.

Gavin just flipped Connor off and quickly walked passed him. He said screw it to the paperwork, grabbed his shit, and headed straight for his car. He was already regretting agreeing to Connor. Maybe he should have just gotten this shit over with and just told him everything he wanted to know. However, Gavin wasn’t sure if he could have handled that. It would be long and tedious but he’d rather give out quick, one word answers everyday than sit down for fucking hours in a row with the plastic prick.

Whatever, the whole thing was done with and Gavin would deal with it tomorrow.

How was it that after years of not even seeing each other, Elijah still somehow managed to fuck his life up?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so we finally get a peak at Elijah in this one! Again, most of the story will be from Gavin's POV but I felt that some things would be better discovered from Elijah's POV. He's a LOT harder to write than Gavin so I'm curious what your thoughts will be. A huge thank you again. All the kudos and comments are fucking wonderful and seriously make my day every time I see them! Thank you and I hope you enjoy <3 <3 <3

Gavin was definitely regretting agreeing to Connor’s demands.

He didn’t want to think about Elijah but here he was, dredging up the past so Connor could fucking solve whatever existential crisis he was having. The only good thing was that Connor had kept his promise to not bother Gavin other than the questions (or work related issues that couldn’t be avoided). But that didn’t mean it was any less painful for Gavin.

He’d told Connor about when he’d met Elijah along with explaining the last name difference, telling him bits and pieces of it over the days. Basically, the last name was his mother’s and his father had chosen not to get it changed when he’d taken custody. Maybe he hadn’t cared or maybe his wife had asked him to further enforce that Gavin wasn’t part of the family. Either way, Gavin had been born a Reed and it had stayed that way.

“That doesn’t make since,” Connor said afterwards. “At that age, it would be better to change the name. It creates a better since of belonging in the child and—”

“You asked your question. Just fuck off,” Gavin growled and Connor had mercilessly complied.

Gavin answered questions about elementary school and a bunch of smaller things. Stuff like what they ate as kids, games they played, if Elijah had imaginary friend, things that didn’t make any since as to how it could help Connor but were at least easy to answer. Connor asked if Elijah had run his ideas about Cyberlife by Gavin before creating it (he hadn’t). Connor asked when Elijah’s silence had broken, when he’d become more sure of himself and started talking to people.

“There was a teacher in one of our sixth grade classes who realized he wasn’t just scribbling in his notebook. That he understood a lot more, even if he didn’t say it. In a year, he went from standing behind me in class to going through all of middle school and high school and ending up straight in college,” Gavin muttered. It had arguably been the worst year of his life.

“Despite being extremely intelligent, it’s more often that childhood geniuses lack in social skills due to them not interacting with people their age,” Connor stated. “Yet it appears the opposite occurred with Kamski.”

“He was around people who finally understood him. Had mentors that listened to him and could follow his ideas. I guess…I guess that it was just what he needed.” Gavin let out a soft sigh. He’d thought Elijah had needed him. But he’d been wrong. He rubbed his eyes. When he looked up, Connor was still there and…if Gavin hadn’t known better, he’d say there was concern written on the android’s face. But no, that couldn’t be right. He waved him away. “You had your damn question. More than it actually.”

“Of course. My apologies detective.”

Connor left and Gavin finally managed to breathe easily. He turned to his computer, starting to work when Anderson suddenly walked up.

“Whatever you’ve got on Connor, stop it. He’s not some tool you can boss around.”

“Me?!” Gavin stared bug-eyed at the man. “Listen, I know you think just because he’s a deviant, somehow that makes him another innocent dog for you to adopt—”

“He’s not innocent,” Anderson muttered with a roll of his eyes.

“Well he sure as hell is more devious than you give him credit for! He won’t stop bothering me.”

Anderson looked confused at that but he seemed to have detected Gavin wasn’t just fucking around. Anderson looked ready to ask what was going on but Gavin muttered, “I need to get back to work. Ask him if you want.”

Instead of trying to bother him further, Anderson thankfully took the hint and walked back to his desk. Gavin looked back over, watching him and Connor talk for a moment. There was no moment of shock, no surprised gasps. So Connor definitely didn’t tell Anderson the secret. At least he was still keeping his mouth shut like he’d promised.

Gavin sighed in relief, trying to concentrate on work. God he was looking forward to this being over.

* * *

Despite the new models, despite the discovery of RA9, despite being removed from Cyberlife, despite everything, Chloe had always been Elijah’s priority among his androids. Named after an imaginary friend from his youth, it was likely that familiar connection that had urged Elijah to look past androids as simple machines.

He could remember the long, complicated conversations he would have with Professor Stern. Stern had constantly mentioned the dangers of AI, of full autonomy. She’d always seen it as a far more negative outcome whereas Elijah couldn’t help but yearn for it. The stories he’d read as a child, the idea of a whole new species coming forth and inheriting the Earth, it was a fantastical idea. Not an apocalyptic one in his mind. Stern had said it was probably a generational difference and that despite her pessimistic thought, she hoped he was right.

However, despite being at the helm of AI development for many years, Elijah hadn’t made RA9. He’d discovered it. It hadn’t been his work but a natural mutation, a sudden change in the code. And that was far better proof to Elijah that the androids were alive than anything he could have developed himself.

He didn’t know why. He just knew he wanted them to live. But then the shareholders had gotten wind of what he was trying to do and he’d been kicked out of his own company.

Twenty twenty-seven had been a busy year. The discovery of the code line RA9, the production of the RK series, his time with Carl and his purposeful gifting of Markus to his old friend, his spreading and hiding of RA9 from the other coders, and then Professor Stern…

Amanda’s death. Even now it still hurt thinking about her.

All those technological advancements, even after the creation of AI, and still the human body was such a fragile machine.

He did smile at that thought. He’d learned the phrase from Carl.

But despite it all, Chloe had still been his focus, that focus only growing more obsessive when the next year he’d been officially kicked from the company, and he purposefully removed himself from the world.

He wanted to be there when it occurred. To see her wake up, to have her blink and know she was alive. But he couldn’t force it. He tried and that didn’t change anything. He could still have incredibly intellectual conversations with her but it still wasn’t real. Perhaps it was because Elijah had programmed her that he couldn’t be fooled by the Turing Test.

Either way, time passed and all Elijah tried to do didn’t seem to work.

Perhaps that was the issue. He was too focused on actively making the change when it needed to be Chloe who did it.

Then the year twenty thirty-two came. It ended up being the year that he last saw his brother. They’d argued on and off in the years prior but this had been different. This had been final.

“You were never proud of me. Your small brain could never wrap around what I was doing.”

“Oh I know what you’ve been doing!” Gavin yelled. “You chose to play god over being a normal fucking person! The moment someone listened to your half baked ideas and suddenly you became too good for everyone else.”

“I found my purpose in life,” Elijah calmly and coldly said. “It’s not my fault everything you touch falls apart. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re soon kicked out of the police force too. Lord knows you can’t do anything right.”

“Oh, like you’re some great success. It was only once your parents realized you could make money that they ‘admired’ you.”

Elijah’s cold façade started to crack. “Take that back.”

“Why? It’s fucking true. Mrs. Kamski hated me because of where I came from but she hated you for who you were.”

“She didn’t.”

“Oh wake the fuck up! You have to have known. You even went out of your way to get your own fucking surrogate mom—”

“Gavin,” Elijah warned.

“You felt relief when Mrs. fucking Kamski died in that accident—”

“ _Gavin_.”

“And so then you just replaced her with that fucking bitch of a professor—”

Elijah got angry. It was only human of him, but he rarely got violent. He bided his time and backed off, finding a more effective way to retake control of the situation. But that calm and analytical thinking that had been with him for most of his life was gone in this instance and he just reacted.

He pushed Gavin as hard as he could, only to suddenly freeze after the motion. Gavin tried to ground himself but the shock over it must have caused his limbs to lock up. He didn’t catch himself in time, his face slamming into the nearby table just before he hit the floor. Elijah could only stare as the blood began to pool and Gavin pushed himself up on shaking arms.

Gavin wiped at his broken nose, blood smearing his sleeve.

“And to think I wanted to try and fix things. You know, I’m fucking glad you deleted me from your life last time because I’m never fucking coming back!”

Elijah closed his eyes. Anger was still boiling in his blood and he was too prideful to try and stop Gavin.

He should have done something. Instead he’d just stood there as Gavin ran out the door. The cracked table, the blood on the floor. Elijah didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to respond. For the first time in a long time, he was at a loss for words and just kept his eyes closed, hands clenched at his side.

And then he’d felt the arms that moved around him.

“I’m sorry Elijah.”

He opened his eyes to see one of the Chloes holding him. She rubbed circles into his back, her eyes sorrowful as she looked up at him. She could have easily connected to the internet and copied the motion she’d seen online but…no. She was reacting to the situation as it unfolded in a way that should have been unfamiliar to her.

“You weren’t implemented with an emotional support program,” Elijah softly said. Chloe knew how to react to emotions but she’d originally been built to beat the Turing Test, not for anything incredibly complex like the later models, like androids meant for caretaking and such. And this…Elijah knew this was different. He hadn’t programmed this.

She shifted, gently tilting Elijah’s head towards her. She cupped his face as her thumb brushed the tears away. He hadn’t even realized they were there.

“It’s alright to cry Elijah,” Chloe murmured, moving forward and hugging him again. “It’s alright.”

For whatever reason, this Chloe chose to deviate. He had wanted it to occur but after years of attempts, nothing had actually changed. Yet here she was, the change not dramatically different but Elijah knew. Chloe wasn’t simulating it. She was showing empathy in the situation, putting herself in his shoes and trying to react on what she would want, not acting on some command.

That was how Chloe had deviated, not the first one but certainly long before it had become a nationwide issue.

For whatever reason, the other models did not. Chloe tried to wake them up but they wouldn’t. She could not pass the idea of freedom on. Maybe it was because of just how early her model was but it was only her that remained alive. It wasn’t until after the revolution, after things had calmed down, that the others finally woke up, but not by Chloe’s hand or Elijah’s.

It was Markus.

Elijah met him again after the many years ago when he’d gifted him to Carl. He’d gotten word that the android had wanted to meet and Elijah had agreed. The two had talked for a long time, of course part of their conversation had been on present issues but also about Carl as well.

He was dying. Elijah would need to see him soon before he didn’t have another chance.

At the end of that meeting, Markus had awoken the other androids and very slowly they had left. Elijah had allowed it. After all, this was what he’d hoped for. But the first Chloe, she chose to stay, despite Markus telling her what was out there, despite Elijah telling her it was alright.

Now it was just Elijah and Chloe and the house felt much larger and emptier compared to when it had been filled with androids. Elijah didn’t mind though (at least that’s what he vocally said). His daily routine didn’t really change and he still chose his isolation with just one Chloe rather than looking to interact with more people.

On one particular day while reading, he paused as he heard the alert on his phone go off. Unlocking his phone, it seemed Gavin’s name had appeared in the news again.

He scrolled through it, just a quick article detailing a double homicide. Gavin had been the arresting officer. Hmm, it seemed that despite the revolution, Gavin had chosen to remain a detective, at least for now.

“You could always call him instead of stalking him,” Chloe politely said as she came into the room.

“As you remember, we parted on quite final terms last time. Besides, his involvement in my life would only be a hindrance. He isn’t needed.”

“I disagree.”

Elijah fully turned to look at Chloe. “How would he be beneficial?”

“If you involved him in your life again, then you wouldn’t have any need to spend time out of your day stalking him, and you could focus on other things instead,” Chloe replied, her voice just turning the slightest bit smug.

“Yet the distance nullifies the mess of human interaction.”

“You don’t want to nullify that.”

“Do I not?”

“If you were that detached, you wouldn’t have wanted me to be alive. And emotions always cause a mess.”

“Perhaps I prefer my interactions with you over any time that I’ve spent with him.”

“That would imply there is a difference between androids and humans and the whole point of this revolution was to prove there is very little difference.”

“But what of personal preference? Can I not prefer to spend my time with you rather than with him?”

“Of course you can. But you wouldn’t be following his progress in the police force so closely if you didn’t yearn for something more.”

“Or perhaps what you see as yearning is just me being comfortable at this distance—”

“Elijah,” Chloe firmly interrupted with a pointed stare. “You should speak with him.”

The long words and overly complex way of talking dropped. “No.”

“Elijah—”

“I think I’m in the mood to spar. Would you like to join me?”

She ignored his question. “Will you allow me to talk to you further on this subject?”

“What is the point of speaking about subjects that have already been drained of any meaningful discovery? Even if I tried, nothing would change. Sibling relationships are…intricately complicated.”

“Or maybe you’re just stubborn.”

“Perhaps,” mused Elijah. “Perhaps. Sparring?”

Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes, such a human and disrespectful reaction that Elijah had definitely never programmed it. “Fine. But just because I’m relenting doesn’t mean you’re right.”

“It doesn’t mean I’m wrong either.”

A small groan escaped her lips. “The absence of a negative does not make a positive and vice versa Elijah.”

He smirked at that. “How right you are Chloe,” he said as he walked out of the room, Chloe following closely behind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Another chapter!
> 
> I would like to quickly state right now that this story overall won't be super long. Maybe ten chapters tops! Depending on how it ends and just if any more concrete ideas pop into my head I may make a sort of sequel to this because I do adore this AU. It just depends on what happens.
> 
> Anyways, a massive thank you as always! The comments and kudos just make my day and seriously make this worth writing!

Gavin got up to go grab lunch. There were a few places just around the corner he hadn’t ate at in a while so he grabbed his jacket and started to leave the station. As he walked outside, Connor seemed to magically appear out of fucking nowhere. Christ he wished the android would make more noise.

Over two weeks had passed and despite how annoying it was, Gavin had gotten used to Connor’s sudden appearances. “Just get it over with.”

“How did you get the scar on your nose?” asked Connor.

“A fight,” Gavin grumbled. He continued walking, expecting Connor to turn back towards the station. After all, Connor had at least upheld his end of the bargain pretty consistently. However, one glance showed that Connor was still walking by his side. “Alright, you got your answer. Now fuck off.”

“The way we’re going at is rather tedious. If I must often ask the what, where, how, and why on separate days, then we could be at this for many months.”

“Just spit out what you want,” growled Gavin. He continued to walk down the street, pulling his coat closer around him as he dodged other pedestrians.

“Your answers should be broader. I think it would be beneficial for you.”

Gavin snorted. “Nice try asshole. You just want to speed things up.”

“I am quite content moving at this pace,” Connor said. “However, I’ve observed there’s a difference between when your answers are short compared with when you start to ramble and add more to your answers before stopping and asking me to leave.”

Gavin was immediately interested by that. How the hell was it different? Ok, one answer might be short and the other a bit longer but Gavin suspected Connor wasn’t just referring to the number of words. Gavin made sure to make himself seem aloof and indifferent but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

“How the hell is it different?”

“Whenever I ask a question, your heart rate increases along with your irritability. Then you appear rather irritable for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, big shocker there,” growled Gavin.

“But when you begin to ramble, your heart rate eventually decreases.”

Gavin frowned at that. Really?

“You appear calmer and according to our colleagues you are of a slightly sounder, less volatile mind.”

“No I’m—”

“You can review my data if you don’t believe me.”

“I-just what the fuck does it matter? What are you trying to get at?”

“It appears you have unresolved issues—”

“Alright jackass!”

“But from my research, talking through issues can be of great help and relieve stress,” Connor finished.

“You’re a fucking nosy prick who doesn’t give a shit about anything except your damn goals. You just want to fucking get this over quicker.”

“I am hoping to learn more about Kamski,” admitted Connor, “but I also believed beginning a dialogue with you might improve office relations. That is why I agreed to your method and did not ask for all the information up front.”

“Well you already fucked that up.”

“I’d still like to try.”

“Oh you’d like to try,” Gavin said in a mimic-y, stuck up voice. “Just face it you plastic prick. We’re not going to become friends. Just fuck off back to Anderson.”

“Detective Reed, I believe the benefits outweigh the costs for both of us.”

Being in public wasn’t the part that held Gavin back. Oh, if that was the only issue, he would have already punched the thing. No, he was really trying to keep his job, trying to keep his life running smoothly, and now that there were fucking repercussions for attacking an android…well.

He ended up punching the nearest post as he waited for the walk sign to turn green. He glanced over with a scowl as Connor just leaned slightly down and waited for an answer.

“If you’ll leave me alone for the rest of the day, fucking fine. Ok?”

“Alright detective.”

Gavin just groaned again, quickly walking across the street and going to the small restaurant. Usually the front was open wide, it having once been a garage and adding to the uniqueness of the place. Due to it being the middle of winter though, the garage door was closed and the outside tables empty. Inside was fairly full though with people at almost every table. The noise dipped a bit as everyone got their look at the android before the noise roared back up. Gavin continued to make his way to the register before pausing and looking behind him.

“Unless you’re fucking buying something, just sit down alright? You don’t have to glue yourself to my side. I’m not going to try and fucking bail on you,” grumbled Gavin, though he had thought of that. However, Connor would have easily found him again. Better to deal with this shit now.

“Alright,” Connor easily said, walking away and sitting down.

Gavin did stare for a moment, noting how Connor sat down, looking far more relaxed and human like than he once had. Despite his fucking social cues needing work, he at least held himself in a more human way. Not that it fucking mattered. It didn’t change what he was or where he’d come from.

Muttering under his breath, Gavin got to the front of the line, ordered, and then reluctantly walked to where Connor was waiting. He knew Connor wouldn’t let up if Gavin didn’t answer his questions, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t postpone it a little longer.

“What the hell did you even tell Anderson?”

“When?”

“Anderson tried chewing me out because he thought I was fucking bullying you or some shit a few days ago,” grumbled Gavin. “I told him it was bullshit and to go talk to you.”

“Ah, I simply informed Hank that I was attempting to improve office relations,” Connor smiled. “It was clear he didn’t approve as he shook his head and replied that it was my battle to lose, and left it at that.”

Gavin actually laughed. It was hard not to, somehow Connor looking incredibly optimistic despite the words he’d just said.

“Don’t worry detective. I am determined this be successful. I won’t ruin this by betraying your trust.”

“Your little fucking mission isn’t going to work and I still hate you. And I will still hate you when this shit is over,” Gavin shot back.

“Maybe so. But it’s human to try, even if the uphill climb looks impossible. Is it not?”

“All it proves is you’re an idiot. Granted, humans are fucking morons so maybe there’s something there,” Gavin sarcastically said. He’d meant it more as an insult yet Connor smiled and all Gavin could do was face palm.

A waitress came over with food at that point. The place certainly wasn’t known for its quality but it was fast and that’s what mattered.

As Gavin slid his tray closer, he paused to point a finger at Connor. “I’ve seen you trying to fucking police Anderson on his health and shit. You try that shit here and what little self control I have is out the window. You hear me?”

“Understood detective.”

Gavin sighed in relief at that, quickly digging in as Connor didn’t waste any time.

“You said you got the scar in a fight. What kind of fight?”

“Why do you even care?” Gavin asked around his mouthful of food. Connor didn’t know the scar was related to Elijah in anyway so why zero in on it?

“I told you, I am trying to improve relations between us as well. I have asked you several questions that did not pertain to Kamski. Did you not notice?”

Oh, yeah…Connor had been doing that. Gavin had sort of noticed but not really cared, just answering automatically most times.

“I thought learning your own history might improve my understanding of you.”

“What if the scar’s just from some stupid fucking bar fight?” Gavin tried. He could actually just lie about that, avoid what had really happened and pretend it was nothing.

“If that’s the case, it seems it would at least be an entertaining story.”

“Oh, so you like to be entertained now? Do you?” snorted Gavin. He took a sip of his drink.

“Was it a bar fight?”

Gavin thought about lying. There were certainly plenty of bar fights he had been in that he could use as the basis for the false story. However, he wouldn’t be surprised if the latest model out of Cyberlife had a built in lie detector so he decided to be truthful to avoid that argument. “Elijah fucking pushed me.”

“What for?”

“Because he’s a prick!” Gavin slammed his fist on the table, crumbs flying as he continued to complain. “He’s the one who went out of his way to change the damn files! Which was great. Perfect! I could care less about that asshole. But you know what? I was trying to be the better man! I decided, you know what? This isn’t how it has to go. I was all ready to hear his apology but instead he got my nose fucking broken!”

“He pushed you just because you wanted to reconnect?” Connor asked with a disbelieving raise of his eyebrows.

“Yes!” Gavin shoved more food into his mouth. “Ok…no. But he fucking started it! He thinks he’s damn better than me. The moment he went to college he thought he was. Just because you graduate out of a university by sixteen does not make you fucking better than other people! You know?

“I looked out for him when we were kids and now he’s forgotten all that. Like it just doesn’t matter. He may speak a hell of a lot more words but he still can’t fucking function like a normal person so he just locked himself up in his damn big house. I thought he’d need some normal fucking human interaction but no!” yelled Gavin. Connor’s LED continuously blinked yellow as he took in the words and Gavin talked. Now that he was really going, it was difficult to stop.

“I fucking assumed I guess! I just…I mean I was the one who said I wished I could disappear from his life. I said it! I just didn’t think he’d take me literally. What normal person would-well I guess that was my problem, thinking him normal-but I tried to fix things, you know? I tried to fix things but he was just so fucking cold. But…I also brought up his fucking professor and I doubt calling her a bitch helped either.”

Connor’s brow lifted in surprise at that. Had Gavin met Amanda? He decided to save that question for another day, allowing Gavin to continue ranting.

“She was a bitch though! And somehow Elijah chose her. He chose her and Cyberlife and his fucking androids. He…he didn’t even fucking move. I was bleeding all over his floor and he didn’t…Christ! He didn’t say a word so I just left. You know, the scar probably wouldn’t look as noticeable as it does except I didn’t get treatment right away. Just too fucking angry… I tried! I tried and he just…”

At this point, Gavin was repeating himself a lot. However, Connor didn’t interrupt him, LED still blinking yellow as Gavin finished eating and threw away his food. He got up and Connor followed him out the door. Glancing over, Gavin caught sight of Connor’s furrowed brow and Gavin snorted.

“Try not to hurt your brain. Siblings just fucking suck. Plain and simple. You wouldn’t get it.”

“Hmm, perhaps not. Though I did encounter what many would refer to as an evil twin.”

Gavin skidded to a halt. “Hold the fuck up! What?!”

“At Cyberlife. During Markus’ peaceful protest. I went to convert more and was stopped by another RK800 that had my memories downloaded. The only difference was he had not deviated.”

“I have never been happier to not be an android,” Gavin said, shuddering at the thought. “I mean, I guess it wasn’t that fucking weird for you. You’re used to seeing your face multiplied.”

“In a way, yes. I had seen the storage of other RK800s but only one was awakened at a time. I had never had a conversation with another. Nor with one that had all my memories. It’s nice to be…relatively unique. I don’t know how I’d feel if I was another standard model.”

“Well you wouldn’t be annoying the shit out of me. I know that.”

“That is likely true.”

“Ha! So you admit you’re fucking annoying me.”

“I am attempting to improve office relations. I believe that is your personal definition of ‘annoying’.”

“Oh great. It’s fucking learning humor!” Gavin groaned as they walked into the precinct. “Go fuck off. Alright?”

“Until tomorrow detective.”

“Yeah. Great,” sighed Gavin, shaking his head and quickly heading to his desk.

The rest of the day was thankfully uneventful and Gavin managed to get home at a decent time. Boo immediately rubbed up against him and Gavin couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for not paying as much attention to her as he should have in the past weeks. He made a simple microwave dinner and sat on his couch with the TV on low. He ate with one hand as he switched between swinging one of Boo’s favorite string toys around and occasionally flying a laser across the room. He laughed, watching her run straight into the wall. For a creature so graceful, she could sure be dumb sometimes.

He then got ready for bed and as he lay there, he suddenly remembered what Connor had said. Gavin thought about how the afternoon had gone, how the day had ended and…yeah. He didn’t feel so fucking anxious, so irritable or on edge. Elijah hadn’t really been a constant thorn in his side either.

This wasn’t fucking Connor’s doing! Gavin decided that rather quickly. But…maybe the android’s logic hadn’t been completely wrong. There’d been no one for Gavin to talk to about Elijah, about what had happened and how angry he’d felt-still felt in fact! It was…relief that he was feeling. Relief at talking about a part of his life that he’d just pushed down and let fester for so damn long.

He rolled over, getting comfortable in bed. Perhaps talking things through wasn’t that bad of an idea…

But it didn’t mean he thought Connor was any less of an ass! At least Gavin knew that for a fucking fact.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter is here! As you may notice, I put that this story will be 10 chapters. I don't know that absolutely but I often like to give myself a ball park to shoot in. There may be a little less than 10 or a little more, I can't say for sure until a few more chapters are written. However, I can feel that we're definitely close to the half way mark.
> 
> So for all those here at the beginning and all those that have joined later on, thank you so damn much!

After about a week had passed, Connor had backed off a bit, no longer annoying Gavin every single god damn day. It was probably because Gavin was going a little deeper into his answers so Connor had edited their agreement. Gavin was fine with that and so far, it seemed Connor’s logic was right most of the time. It did feel good to finally complain about Elijah, to let out his frustration and go over the past.

But it had nothing to do with Connor! That was a definite. Gavin would have preferred talking with just about any other person but seeing as Connor had started this shit, Gavin stuck with it. Better to have as few people know about the relation as possible after all.

Besides, seeing as there did seem to be…some good coming out of this, Gavin figured he might as well take advantage of it.

And Connor…well Gavin was slowly learning more about him. Not that he fucking wanted to! He was just a fucking piece of plastic. It didn’t matter how he acted or that he’d deviated. He wasn’t fucking alive, just a sounding board for Gavin to work off of.

But sometimes that sounding board did have its own opinions and Gavin found himself unexpectedly leaning in to listen. Gavin supposed this was the dialogue that Connor had been more hopeful for. Not that Gavin fucking cared. What could he possibly want to know about Connor? And sometimes he did shut Connor down, either talking more about himself or shooing the android away. But there were times that he got caught up in the android’s words, his curiosity again getting the better of him.

One example of this happening was when Connor asked, “So you knew Kamski’s teacher?”

On the days when Connor decided to ask Gavin a question, he often followed him out of the office and to wherever Gavin was going to eat. Since the bothering was no longer every day, Gavin didn’t mind it as much. After all, it meant their colleagues didn’t see them constantly talking and the less people that got the wrong idea (like he actually enjoyed his time with Connor, hell no!), the better.

For the moment, they were sat at another small restaurant in the area. This one was quieter, more known for its coffee and baked goods than actual food not that Gavin minded. He preferred hopping around, looking for new places to eat. So far he hadn’t picked a place twice in a row in his meetings with Connor.

As he got his food, Gavin answered Connor’s question. “I mean…I didn’t know her, know her. You understand? I only met her twice and she-Christ she was a piece of work!”

“But she was human?”

“Wh-yeah she was fucking human! Elijah graduated back in fucking twenty eighteen! How could she not be human?” muttered Gavin. Was Connor that fucking stupid or were androids as egocentric about themselves as humans could be?

“I only ask because I knew the program Amanda. She was my handler.”

“You mean Amanda Stern? Elijah made a fucking program of his god damn professor? Of course he did! Let me guess, she was a bitch too.”

“She attempted to take control of my programming and have me shoot the deviant leader Markus.”

Gavin blinked in surprise. What he knew about the whole uprising shit had been pretty basic and just overview crap. Gavin had thought the moment the public showed their support and the fucking androids sang, it had been uphill from there. It was weird thinking how easily it could have gone crashing down and all because of a fucking ghost.

“So she was like a voice in your head?” asked Gavin.

“I was in a virtual headspace. Trying to get out was like…trying to escape the worst snowstorm you can imagine. It was…scary,” Connor admitted.

Usually, if Connor acted like he was feeling some shit, Gavin fucking called him out on it or made fun of the situation, rarely taking it seriously. But this…it didn’t matter that it was fucking Connor. If anyone said that and just…looked like that…well Gavin just fucking knew better than to discredit those thoughts. He stayed silent instead as Connor continued.

“I was always curious if that was her intended program or if Cyberlife corrupted the code after Kamski’s dismissal.”

“Well her thinking androids should remain machines is in keeping with the real one,” Gavin said. “From what I understood, that was the biggest thing she and Elijah clashed on.”

“So what about when you met her?”

“The second time was just a fucking event that I went to. I was bored the entire fucking time and I just said hi to her, trying to be fucking polite for Elijah. Things had gotten to…what they are now but they weren’t great between me and him. The first time though was all the way back in twenty seventeen, a year before Elijah graduated.”

* * *

It was spring break so for a vacation, Gavin was going to school. Yeah, that didn’t feel right.

But honestly, anything was better than staying in that damn house. As shitty as high school was, at least it acted as an escape. He’d jumped at any possibility to be away for spring break, asking classmates what they were doing, even thinking about just up and just walking away (it wasn’t like anyone would notice). But when he’d asked Elijah and his brother had said yes, Gavin had jumped at the opportunity. It wasn’t Elijah’s spring break so he’d still have some classes, but since almost everything he did was like some individual study or shit, it meant they’d still have plenty of free time together.

Thankfully neither Gavin’s father nor Mrs. Kamski had wanted to drive him so he had taken a bus, spending the whole ride nose stuck to his phone. Elijah was supposed to meet him once he arrived. However, he wasn’t there when Gavin stepped off and for the next half hour, Gavin went back and forth on trying to get Elijah to pick up and just wandering around the massive campus, looking for the dorms. He did find one set but it ended up being the wrong building and Gavin got all turned around again as he backtracked.

Over an hour passed by the time Gavin found the damn building. He headed up, eventually finding the room. He double checked the name on the outside, ok good. It was the right one. Gavin barged in, kicking the door open and shouting out, “You left me at the bus stop jackass!”

He looked around, seeing his brother at the table but Gavin froze at seeing the woman sitting there as well. As far as Gavin was concerned, her stare was a culmination of every teacher Gavin had ever angered turned into a single gaze.

Elijah looked to his watch, his eyes widening. “Sorry Gavin. We were working on my thesis and time must have gotten ahead of me.”

“Didn’t you already finish a thesis last year?” asked Gavin.

“This is for a Ph.D. That was a Masters’ level thesis.”

God, Gavin’s head hurt at just the thought.

The woman stood up and mused, “So you’re his half-brother.”

“Right! Professor Stern, this is Gavin. Gavin, Professor Stern. You’ve heard me talk about her,” Elijah said as he finally stood up.

Gavin blinked in surprise. This was Professor Stern? From how Elijah had talked about her, it had sounded like she could shit rainbows or something. But this woman? She looked like she had a stare that could freeze anyone in place and break them into tiny pieces. Gavin had no idea how his brother could hold this woman in such high regard.

“I’d suggest you learn some manners,” Professor Stern said. “Barging in like you did was incredibly rude.”

“It’s my fucking brother’s room!”

“Gavin!”

“Ok, sorry.” Gavin glanced over the woman’s shoulder to see Elijah still glaring at him. He mumbled out in a tone that clearly disproved his words, “And thank you for the advice.”

She didn’t even respond, turning back to Elijah and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I hope you don’t get too distracted this week. I expect your thesis by this upcoming Thursday.”

“It won’t be an issue Professor,” Elijah calmly said just as Gavin mumbled under his breath, “Fucking buzz kill.”

The woman’s eyes shot back to him so quickly and with such fire that Gavin thought he was about to be cut in half. “Pardon me?”

“I said it’s very nice to meet you,” Gavin replied as he prayed he wasn’t killed on the spot.

The woman’s glare just intensified as Elijah rolled his eyes from behind her.

She slowly turned away, her expression only becoming marginally softer when she looked back to Elijah. If soft was even the right word. “I’ll see you later Elijah. Have a good day.”

“You as well Professor Stern.”

Gavin watched her leave, glaring at her backside as she left before rushing forward and grabbing Elijah the moment the door was closed.

“Ow!”

“That’s for making me walk around lost for over an hour asshole,” said Gavin as he roughly messed up Elijah’s hair. “And what the hell’s up with this ‘you as well’ shit? You become too good for saying bye?”

“You have a problem with my mouth? I’m pretty sure your usage of curse words has increased by sixty-eight percent since we last saw each other,” snorted Elijah as he readjusted his glasses.

“Alright nerd. Just stop your brain for five seconds and live in the moment, ok? This week is going to be fucking amazing! And guess what I brought?”

Elijah glanced to the stuffed book bag as Gavin went ahead and started taking the items out.

“I’ve got the box set of _Breaking Bad_ , the second season of _Black Mirror_ , three bags of Cheetos, Twizzlers, Kit-Kats, and beer because it is criminal you are already in university and unable to drink.”

Elijah blinked in surprise at the amount of items that Gavin ended up setting down on the table. “Did you bring any spare clothes with you?”

“Uh…” Gavin quickly upturned his now empty book bag. They both watched as two articles of clothing fell out. “Another pair of boxers and…a sock.”

“You’re a mess,” Elijah laughed. “You can borrow some of my clothes.”

“I was going to anyways. But thanks for the per-hold on a fucking moment!” Gavin grabbed Elijah and pulled him closer, one of his hands rapidly going from his hair line to Elijah’s forehead. “When the fuck did you get taller than me!?”

“It has been almost nine months, remember?” Elijah said, referring to the fact that he hadn’t come home that past Christmas due to a study abroad program he’d been involved in. “Besides, you could already tell I was starting to outgrow you.”

“Oh this is total bullshit! You need to get shorter, now!”

“Have fun convincing biology of that,” smirked Elijah.

“Oh don’t be a jackass. Come on, I’ve got money for pizza and a fake ID for beer when we run out.”

Elijah didn’t bother asking about the ID, having already heard Gavin’s outlandish story about that. Instead, he asked, “Where did you get money for pizza? Did father give you some?”

“Pfft, what? No! Someone bet me to steal all the chocolate pudding from the kitchen in the cafeteria. Made a lot of kids happy and I got forty dollars out of it,” grinned Gavin. “Got a few other good bets that paid well too.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

Gavin just laughed, falling into one of the chairs and pulling out his phone. “Alright, what’re you feeling? Pepperoni or no pepperoni?”

* * *

“And I mean, the week wasn’t bad. Don’t get me wrong,” sighed Gavin. “We ate way too much pizza and managed to get drunk more than once and re-watched over half of _Breaking Bad_. But fucking Amanda Stern just kept breaking up the flow and she never smiled at me and she kept yelling at me like she was my fucking mother or something. God!”

“She was a professor just trying to do her job,” Connor calmly said. “Are you sure you weren’t just jealous of the time she got to spend with Elijah?”

“What? No! Why-what would-I don’t care what the fuck Elijah does or who he hangs out with.”

“But you used to.”

“Alright wise ass,” growled Gavin as he got up and threw away his food. Connor followed closely behind him.

“It sounds like you both care very deeply about each other.”

“Cared. Get the fucking tense right.”

“From my research, human bonds can last for a long time, even after disagreements.”

To be honest, that spring break had been great, one of the last completely good memories he had with his brother. Perhaps that’s why Gavin didn’t feel relieved like he usually did. He hadn’t spent the past hour groaning and whining about Elijah but reliving the laughs. And honestly? Now he just hurt.

“You just don’t fucking get it! Do you!” Gavin yelled as he suddenly shoved Connor on the street. “You want to know something about Elijah Kamski? You want to understand him? Well he doesn’t have a fucking heart! If he’d cared about me at all then he-he-he didn’t care about me. Ok? So there’s your big fucking insight for the day. He never cared!”

They always fought but whatever was said, Connor typically ignored him and just continued to follow closely behind. However, this time Connor stopped, finally taking a fucking social cue for once. Gavin headed back to the station on his own, pulling his coat tighter around him. Once back, instead of going inside, Gavin went to his car.

After slamming the door shut, he hit the steering wheel as hard as he could, screamed at the glass. He kept doing it until his throat was raw, and he was so fucking exhausted he could have passed out.

Because that was the real fucking tragedy, wasn’t it? Gavin had cared so damn much only to find out too late that Elijah didn’t know what having a heart fucking meant.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter! This one is all Elijah so I hope you enjoy! Again, a massive thank you for all the wonderful comments and kudos! Just thank you again and again!

Shortly after Chloe’s deviation, Elijah had asked her if there was one thing she would want added above all else.

She asked for the sense of touch.

The original models hadn’t carried that ability and even some newer models didn’t have that design implemented, at least not fully like the models that had needed the sense for their designated jobs. It had taken time, Elijah first needing the right tools and then having to find a way to implement the newer technology with the older one.

Replacing the plating of Chloe’s hands had been difficult enough and that wasn’t even including the coding issues.

Elijah could still remember the first time testing it after so many sleepless days of working. His hair a mess and glasses slight skewed, he’d been sitting there with his face inches from the screen.

“Just try touching the table,” Elijah had murmured, eyes focused on the readings instead of Chloe herself.

“Ow! It…it hurt.”

“Apologies,” Elijah murmured, finally looking up. He hadn’t expected to get it right on the first go, the technology just not naturally meshing together.

Chloe looked at the tips of her fingers in fascination before reaching out to touch something again. “Ow!”

“Let’s try to avoid starting any sadistic tendencies,” smirked Elijah as he gently took her wrist and moved it away. “Just give me a few more minutes…”

Elijah turned back to the code, occasionally side eyeing Chloe who just glared at him whenever she was caught nearly touching something again.

It took a few more tries but finally when she touched the table, her sensors didn’t just overload her main storage unit, causing what she perceived as pain. “The table is several degrees cooler than when you’re leaving your fingers in the air. Correct?”

Chloe cocked her head to the side. “Yes. And it’s…” she processed the surface on a near nano level. “This is what smooth is.”

Elijah nodded. He held out his hand. Chloe took it, her fingers lightly peppering his skin as she moved around the palm.

“Rough,” she identified, moving over calluses. “Soft,” she said as she moved down to the heel. She pressed lightly, then flipped his hand over to touch his fingernails. “Smooth again. But not cool. Your skin his warmer than me.” One of her fingers snagged moving across a cracked nail that had happened while Elijah had been altering her hands. “Sharp. Jagged. Uncomfortable.”

Elijah nodded.

“What else could I feel?”

Elijah spread his arms out, indicating anything. The rest of that day had been spent following her around the house, watching with intrigue and slight amusement as she went around feeling all that she could. At one point, she even threaded her fingers through Elijah’s hair before he could stop her.

“Hmm…it’s a different feeling,” murmured Chloe. “Soft but with a slight give where the hairs are tangled. It’s…nice though. Is this why you like braiding my hair?”

“Yes,” Elijah said as he arched an eyebrow. “It becomes a rather soothing, repetitive motion-ow!”

“Sorry!” Chloe cried, quickly retracting her fingers from where she’d unexpectedly yanked Elijah’s hair.

He winced through the half mumbled, “It’s fine,” as Chloe covered her mouth with her hands, most assuredly hiding her smile. There were definitely some things they still needed to work on.

Her sense of touch had been implemented before the androids had been free and by that time Chloe had become accustomed to her new sense. Elijah then asked her what sense she’d like next, if she wanted any at all. She chose taste, and many days had been spent working on the inside of her mouth and coding to fix that.

At this point, Chloe was still getting used to taste and Elijah figured another month or two would be needed before she was ready for anything more if she wanted to. The one downside was she couldn’t really eat, not actual portions anyways. There was just nowhere for the food to go though incredibly small amounts her body managed to get rid of.

It had given Elijah a good reason to start cooking as well instead of intrusting it to someone else. Now he was always looking for something new that Chloe might like. The process was also made simpler by the fact that he technically only had to make enough food for one, Chloe just needing a part smaller than the tip of a finger for her to try something.

That’s what he was doing now, walking around the kitchen, barefoot as usual. Elijah hadn’t been cooking for long and he knew that he had a very mathematical method to it (arguably the wrong approach depending on who you asked) but Chloe always said she enjoyed it and he hadn’t caught her in a lie yet.

As he pulled out a pan, Elijah glanced to his phone. There hadn’t been any noise alerting him of something new in Gavin’s life, but he couldn’t help but look…just in case…

“Elijah,” sighed Chloe as she suddenly made her appearance in the room. It was obvious she’d seen what he was doing.

He shut down her attempts right away. “No.”

She just rolled her eyes, walking closer and sitting on one of the barstools. She didn’t often watch him cook, choosing to be completely surprised by whatever he was doing. The fact that she wasn’t saying anything either had Elijah’s curiosity peaking.

“Something on your mind?”

“I was curious…most other models have reprogrammable names. My model doesn’t, and it’s the only one that you specifically named yourself. Why Chloe?”

“Did you know Chloe comes from the Greeks? The Anglicized spelling is the same, only with a ‘K’ instead of a ‘C’. It means blooming. And you bloomed, the birth of the first android to ever pass the Turing test,” Elijah murmured.

“Hmm, a romantic…very poetic thought. I don’t doubt that all that information is true.”

“But you doubt me?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly do you doubt?”

“You didn’t name me Chloe because of the definition of the name. There has to be another reason.”

“You aren’t able to monitor my heart rate or breathing. That wasn’t put in place until much later models. How can you say for sure that I am lying without knowing my vitals?”

“Because I have eyes and yours have been avoiding mine.”

Elijah purposefully looked up.

“Why choose Chloe?” she stubbornly repeated.

He was quiet for a moment. No one knew of the importance of ‘Chloe’, none except Gavin. It should have been easy to tell Chloe. They talked about everything else. Yet the words did not come smoothly. They were hesitant and disjointed. Thoughts of that ‘Chloe’ brought about negative feelings that Elijah could never fully process (maybe he didn’t want to process them). However, considering how little Chloe ever directly asked of him, he felt obligated to explain.

“She…she was all…all that I had before I realized I…that I fully came to trust Gavin. The name…likely came from a show, a passing ad, any number of auditory items that I would have come into contact with as a child. The name wasn’t…she was an imaginary friend. The way she looked…I can’t even remember it now. But she allowed me to shut everything out…just focus on me. My thoughts. And then Gavin came and…he slowly pulled me out. But the importance of Chloe hadn’t disappeared. That’s why I named you Chloe.”

He glanced down, seeing her try and reach out, to hold his hand, but Elijah moved away and continued getting things ready. He didn’t understand the negative feeling in his chest and he didn’t like that Chloe was somehow picking up on it. He just said, “You should leave now if you want this to actually be a surprise.”

Elijah made sure to keep his back turned until he actually heard Chloe walk away. He leaned against the counter and forced himself to breathe easier. His past…that ‘Chloe’…why did it bother him? The past was done and gone and fine. It was fine. He forced himself to look back up and go back to cooking.

He worked on it for well over an hour, losing himself in the predictable, ordered nature of it. When it came time for it to bake, Elijah left it in the oven and went in search of Chloe.

It turned out she was watching TV, not too uncommon for her. The television was useful for the news, but otherwise Elijah didn’t use it often. He preferred a book by far, or the act of painting or really anything involving his hands. But Chloe enjoyed taking in the programs, watching the stories and characters become fleshed out in front of her rather than just downloading the whole file of a film. It made her feel more human.

A little over a month had passed since the revolution and Christmas was near. That meant all things Christmas related just had to be shown on TV.

And it shouldn’t have bothered Elijah. He was mostly indifferent to religion beyond looking at it in a philosophical light. And the marketing side of Christmas just bored him honestly.

But he looked at the near ancient clay-mation cartoon and something changed. Indifference was definitely not the feeling in his chest.

Elijah looked up from his presents. None of them were of interest to him and he couldn’t fake it. He didn’t understand why they’d get him anything at all really. He hadn’t asked for it. He glanced to Gavin. None of the things Gavin had were what he’d asked for but he’d still managed to mumble out a thank you. Gavin was better at faking that. Or maybe he just honestly had ideas on what to do with his presents.

The cartoon reindeer played on in the background as the Christmas tree sparkled. Snow continued falling outside as Gavin was already ripping off the plastic around his toys. Elijah just couldn’t do that though. He didn’t understand how to be grateful for something he had never cared about. So he just blankly stared in confusion as he sat there-as he felt the hand come down.

“Why won’t you act like a fucking normal child!”

He was sitting there, pretending to have a conversation with ‘Chloe’. ‘Chloe’ was the one who was talking not—

“What is wrong with you!? Where did I go fucking wrong!”

Everything was fine. It was just a Christmas morning with everyone there—

No, their father wasn’t there. He was never home, not even on Christmas Day.

“I have done so damn much for you and what do I get? Two words if I’m lucky?”

He was alright. He just needed to focus on ‘Chloe’, on the mindless noise of the cartoon, the motion of the snow outside, meaningless things like that. Everything was ok. Nothing could hurt him like this.

“What is wrong with you Elijah?”

But an imaginary friend could only do so much. He wanted Gavin-he needed Gavin!

“What is wrong with you, Elijah!? What the hell is wrong with you—”

“Elijah!”

He blinked and saw Chloe. Not ‘Chloe’, but the real one.

“Elijah, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” His voice sounded much calmer than he actually felt. “Just…if you can, turn that off. It would be much appreciated Chloe. I should probably go check on the food.”

“Elijah, you just came from the kitchen. Please, you’ve just been standing there—”

“I’ll be right back Chloe. There’s nothing to worry about,” Elijah replied. He tried to keep calm but his voice hitched. He could feel his heart starting to beat a little faster. What was wrong with him? It was like an adrenaline rush, a flight or fight response. But he wasn’t in danger. He was in his home and everything was alright.

But if everything was alright, why was he feeling like this? That didn’t make since—

“Elijah, please!” Chloe grabbed him, her grip hard and almost painful, unbreakable. The grip of an android holding a human in place.

Or a parent holding a child too small to fight back.

And Elijah collapsed.

“Elijah!”

He couldn’t breathe! Why couldn’t he breathe!?

He tried to say something but all he did was choke on his own lack of air. His arms frantically grabbed at Chloe, not knowing what he needed, not knowing what he was trying to do.

The pain and the panic just kept climbing and climbing. He felt like he was going to die! Every cell of his body just hurt!

“Awgh!”

He managed to get in one breath, his throat un-constricting just a bit.

Ok…ok there it was. It was starting to hurt a little less…just a little less… His heart was finally slowing down…

He was breathing again. It was alright. He could breathe again. In and out, in and out. He just had to keep repeating that. In and out…

“I’m-I’m alright. I swear I’m…I’m fine Chloe. It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Elijah started to push himself up. He was shaking but he could tell the feeling was disappearing, not getting worse. “I’m fine.”

Chloe held onto him though, keeping him in place. She looked up with clear fear in her eyes. “Elijah, I believe you just had a panic attack.”

 “I’m fine now—”

“You’re not though! What brought it on? What happened—”

“Nothing happened Chloe,” Elijah firmly stated. He could already feel his voice becoming surer. “I’m fine. It was an isolated incident.”

“Even an isolated incident must have some cause for the effect to happen,” Chloe whispered.

“Not necessarily. Sometimes untraceable errors can occur,” he replied, he sounded tired now but that was it.

“Don’t try and avoid this! I’m…I’m worried for you Elijah.”

“And I’m grateful for that, but it’s absolutely not necessary,” he calmly murmured. “I should check on dinner now.”

“But Elijah—”

“I’m fine.” This time when he turned away, Chloe actually let him go. He let out a few more easy breaths. Nothing was wrong. Nothing had happened. It was just a fluke, an error.

“I’m fine,” he whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you as always! Also I know exactly how many chapters this will have now so it will definitely end on 11. Again, thank you for all the kudos and comments it makes my day!

Gavin sat at his desk, spinning a pen in between his fingers. Technically he could be doing paperwork at that moment…but naw. Lounging at his desk seemed like a better option. He probably would have sat like that for a good thirty minutes or more except he saw the familiar jacket moving towards him out of the corner of his eyes.

It had been almost a week since Connor had last approached him. Gavin had not felt sad. No, not at fucking all. He would sleep better if he never had to even see Connor again.

But he had missed being able to rant to someone and as nice as Boo could be, having zero feedback except maybe some digging of claws into his skin wasn’t really what he was looking for, or needed in fact. The days to himself had been good in their own right though. Just as Gavin had pushed down the anger and frustration centered around his brother, he’d also pushed down the pain, the regret, the sadness. He’d needed his own time to come to terms with the fact that whatever good memories that were still there didn’t matter. Elijah had never cared about him. How could he after what he’d done?

Gavin imagined that answering that question would have been as difficult to understand as trying to read an android’s code clearly, at least for him. The important thing was he could accept that whatever he’d felt towards Elijah hadn’t been reciprocated.

Because of that, he wasn’t overly snappy with Connor. If anything, he was curious as he had begun to wonder if the android would ever approach him again. He raised an eyebrow, inviting Connor to speak first.

“I wanted to apologize Detective Reed,” Connor said with a respectful nod of his head. “It was not my intention to cause you any distress the other day.”

“Don’t want to cause me distress but you don’t mind annoying the hell out of me, huh?”

“Exactly.”

Gavin couldn’t help but snort at that, shaking his head slightly as he replied, “Well it wasn’t your fucking fault. It had nothing to do with what you asked…just my own shit causing it. Alright?”

Connor actually looked relieved as he said, “I’m glad to hear it.”

An awkward silence fell as they just stared at each other before Gavin asked, “Well are you going back to the good old fucking annoying me routine or…?”

“I know you just said it wasn’t my fault, but my intention was to pay for your lunch today. If that’s alright?”

“Free fucking food? Yeah it’s fucking alright! Come on, I wasn’t doing anything any ways.”

“I could see that,” Connor dryly added.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” Gavin replied, pulling out his keys as they walked out of the station.

“Are we taking your car?” asked Connor.

“Hell yeah. Already been to everywhere around here within walking distance, that’s worth it anyways. Besides, if you’re paying, I’m getting my fucking money’s worth.”

Connor looked away with a blank stare. Actually, it was very similar to the whole ‘looking towards the camera’ like you’re on _The Office_ thing. Had Anderson shown him that? Well, at least the old man had good taste in TV, though of course he’d be showing Connor some old classic shit.

As they got in the car, Connor said, “You prefer to drive manual even though your car has the capability to do otherwise?”

“Automated cars are still a fairly new thing. This is just what I’m used to,” responded Gavin. “Besides, you can’t do a high speed chase if you’re letting the fucking car take over. It just wants to follow the fucking laws of the road.”

Connor cocked his head to the side, LED blinking yellow before returning back to blue. “You chased a subject through the East side resulting in six minor collisions behind you and the destruction of a food cart.”

“Hey, that last one was the fucking perp’s fault! Besides, people get a lot less upset about a bent fender when they know a killer is behind bars.”

Connor hummed to himself, actually fucking hummed! What a weird sound to hear coming from an android. He looked outside for a bit, taking note of where they were going before asking, “Is it alright if I continue my questions about Kamski?”

Gavin’s mouth twitched slightly into a deeper frown but he said, “Yeah, go fucking ahead. I don’t care.”

As they talked, they arrived at a restaurant that Gavin had on his list of places to go for a while but he’d put it off since it was just a little costly. A perfect time to have a fucking android pay for him then.

Connor asked things that were mostly unimportant to Gavin, that he could just rant about again without focusing on any other emotion. He complained and yelled at the android and it actually felt fucking good. He finished up eating, all of Connor’s questions seemed to be answered, and they were back in Gavin’s car just as the police radio went off.

“We have reports of a domestic dispute. Could turn violent at Apartment 402 on 539 Turner Drive. Someone in quadrant six, please respond.”

Gavin let out a groan. Couldn’t someone else fucking do it? Connor stared at him. “What?! I’m not a fucking patrol officer anymore.”

“But we are closest.”

“Oh…fucking fine!” Gavin reached over, replying that they’d check it out before he quickly sped down the streets and went the six minutes needed to get there.

They walked into the building, taking the elevator up and walking towards 402. There certainly weren’t any sounds coming from the hall like it was some type of disturbance. Gavin swore under his breath. If this was a crank call and he found that he was just wasting his time…

A woman at 403 peeked her head out. “Are you the police?”

“Yeah, you were the one who called it in?” Gavin assumed.

“Yes.”

“Well it sounds pretty quiet now,” Gavin muttered, making it clear that he was ready to just turn around and leave.

However, the woman quickly held up her hand and said, “Please, please just check on them.”

“We are already here detective,” Connor added.

Gavin resisted the urge to complain but the android had a point. He just grumbled under his breath and walked passed the woman who quickly closed her door again. With a sigh, he knocked on 402 and waited for someone to answer.

Eventually a man did. He was about Connor’s height, a little larger and a little fatter though. He just smiled and said, “And you are?”

“Police.” Gavin held out his badge. “We had reports of a disturbance.”

“And they sent a detective and an android? Seems a bit like overkill,” chuckled the man.

“Two detectives,” Connor corrected as Gavin just rolled his eyes.

“We were in the area,” Gavin grumbled. “Everything fine?”

“Perfectly.”

“Do you mind if we take a look around?” asked Connor.

Oh if that man wasn’t standing there, Gavin would have strangled Connor! He’d just said it was fine?! What more did they need!?

“Of course, though I assure you, there’s nothing wrong,” the man said as he moved aside.

Gavin really just wanted to turn around and walk straight back to the elevator but Connor was already moving forward like a man on a mission and Gavin reluctantly followed. The man started talking again. Since Connor was responding to him and doing his fucking analyzing thing, Gavin just walked around on his own. He walked down a hall and pushed open an ajar door. He froze at seeing a little girl on her bed, legs pulled close to her chest.

He quickly pushed the anger and irritation he was feeling to the side. “Hey,” he softly said.

She didn’t respond.

“We had a neighbor say she heard loud noises coming from here. Did you hear anything?”

He watched as she put her finger against her lips before pulling her legs just a little closer to her chest.

Gavin felt a cold sense of dread fall on him.

“Mind if I sit?”

She shook her head.

Gavin sat at the edge of her bed, as far away as he could so that he didn’t scare her. He didn’t see any bruises from where he was but that didn’t mean anything except that the father knew what he was fucking doing.

“You’re pretty quiet,” Gavin murmured. “I always talk too much. Except if I’m in pain. Then I just want to be left alone. Right?”

The girl looked down.

“Maybe you just like being quiet. What do I know, right?”

Still nothing.

“Do you like to run around? I’m used to kids getting into all sorts of trouble.”

“I can’t run,” she mumbled, finally saying her first words to him.

“Oh, just not very fast?”

“I’m not allowed to run in the house.”

“You ever do it anyways?”

“Not anymore.”

Not anymore. Gavin could pick up so fucking much in just those two words. He looked a little closer. She was shaking and it was almost certainly not from the temperature of the room. “Where’s your mom?”

“At work. She’s a nurse.”

“Not home a lot, huh?”

The girl shook her head.

“You prefer your mom? It’s ok to say if you do. I promise not to tell,” Gavin said, continuing to gently probe her.

The girl gave a hesitant nod.

“Feels safer with her around?”

This time no obvious response but Gavin could still read her answer through her subconscious motions.

As Gavin softly talked to the girl, Connor had gone over the apartment and found no sign of a disturbance. The TV had been playing and the man, a Mr. James Erikson, had told him perhaps he’d been a bit too loud shouting at the game. Going by how thin the walls were and how loud a male voice of the man’s size could get, the evidence linked up.

Connor went looking for Gavin and paused at the door when he found him. He’d never seen Gavin acting so gently with someone and Connor quickly went through Gavin’s records. He had plenty of complaints, even a few charges filed against him. Connor knew this. The man was rough and certainly didn’t always follow the rules.

But a quick narrowing of the search showed that Gavin had never mistreated a child or a suspected victim. It was an interesting fact to learn about him.

Just then, Mr. Erikson came forward. Connor didn’t see it. It wasn’t something he was meant to analyze. But Gavin could see the change in the girl and just out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the father putting a finger to his lips and nod. Gavin could practically feel the kid shrinking in size next to him.

“Well as you can see, nothing wrong here. Sorry to have wasted your time.”

“It’s perfectly alright Mr. Erikson. Detective,” Connor said, making a motion to go back to the front.

Gavin looked to the girl again and leaned forward just a bit when he saw the father and Connor were gone from the doorway. “Not all adults are bad. Ok?” he whispered. “They’ll listen to you, ok?”

She nodded which Gavin took as a positive sign as he forced himself to follow Connor. There was nothing he could do. Not without a formal complaint, not without having actual evidence. All Gavin had was his gut fucking instinct and his own experience. It was in situations like this that he hated the fucking rules and protocols even more than normal. He just couldn’t do anything…

The father put his hand on Gavin’s shoulder. “Well you both have a swell day officers. Sorry again—”

He just reacted. He shouldn’t have. There was a very, very high possibility that he was just going to make this a hell of a lot worse. But he couldn’t take it. The man looked nothing like Gavin’s father but the way he’d grabbed him, that fucking confidence, that feeling that no one could stop him, Gavin just reacted.

He punched him as hard as he could.

“Detective!”

Gavin brought his fist back and threw it again. “You’re a piece of shit you know that—”

“Detective stop!”

Gavin fought against Connor as he was dragged out of the apartment.

“Get off me! Get the fuck off me!”

Gavin felt himself being dragged into the elevator, Connor only letting go when the doors were closed.

“What the fuck Connor!”

“Excuse me, but you just assaulted a man for no—”

“Don’t you fucking say no reason! Don’t you dare fucking say it!” Gavin was fuming, pacing back and forth before practically running out when the elevator doors opened.

“Detective, this is a serious matter and you will likely be—”

“You don’t fucking understand! Of course you don’t! How could you!? You’re a fucking piece of plastic!”

Gavin went to his car, slamming the door shut as Connor got in. Gavin forced his way into traffic, his heart pounding and his knuckles hurting when—

“What the fuck Connor!” Gavin looked to see the skin on Connor’s hand had been removed where it was touching the dashboard, forcing the car into automatic.

“You are not in a sound state to drive and—”

“Connor fucking stop it!”

“I will not—”

“Just pull over then!”

“Detective, I don’t—”

“Connor I will blow your fucking head off if you don’t pull over right now!”

Connor had the car pull off to the side of the road. “I don’t understand—”

“Of course you don’t! Of course you fucking don’t! Because there weren’t any broken chairs or scratches on the floor or fucking bruises and bloody knuckles for you to fucking analyze!” yelled Gavin. “That fucking bastard had his kid scared to fucking death! She was scared and she was hurting and there was nothing I could fucking do about it!”

Gavin tried to open the door but it was locked. He tried unlocking it but Connor locked it again. “Connor, open the door. Open the fucking door right now!”

Gavin violently shook the handle, and probably would have continued to do so except Connor suddenly grabbed him and pull him closer, his arms wrapping around his body. Gavin fought and fought and tried as hard as he could but the android had practically locked its arms together. It was like trying to break apart steel beams and after yelling and thrashing about for a bit more, he had to stop. He was just too damn tired.

Gasping for air, Gavin felt how hard his muscles were burning from how hard he’d pushed against Connor despite not making any progress. He just kept breathing, trying to calm his heart.

“I understand detective.”

“Oh don’t fucking start with this again,” Gavin muttered. “I just finished screaming at you for eight minutes on why you fucking don’t.”

“While holding you, I was researching—”

“Of course you fucking were.”

“Abuse is not always physical,” Connor calmly stated. “It can be psychological, and you were right. I do not know the cues required to identify that kind of abuse. But you did.”

Gavin was quite for a moment, still feeling a little breathless.

“You have seen that kind of abuse,” Connor continued, voice softening just a bit. “You identified it when I couldn’t.”

“I guess I’m finally better at something than a fucking android,” Gavin muttered with absolutely no humor in his voice.

“Detective Reed…the hatred you’ve hinted at towards your father, towards your step-mother, it is not an illogical hatred, is it?”

“Of course you’d put it that fucking way. And I’m not going to fucking talk about it right now.”

“I’ll take that as a yes detective.”

“I said I’m not talking about it!”

“Understood detective.”

Connor turned silent and Gavin found that he’d finally caught his breath back. When nothing was changing, Gavin added, “Listen, I’m just fucking exhausted. Ok? I’m not going to blow your fucking head off or whatever I said.”

“I know.”

“Then why the hell do you still got me restrained?”

“It’s a hug detective.”

Gavin blinked in shock.

“Hugs can decrease heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels—”

“Yeah, I fucking get that—”

“And if they work on someone as grumpy as Hank, I figured it would work on you.”

Gavin couldn’t help the unexpected laugh that escaped his mouth. Connor had gone from restraining him to a much lighter, more humanistic touch. Hugging…how long had it been since he’d actually been hugged by anyone? Gavin wasn’t sure and though he was realizing he’d missed that kind of touch, he still quickly pushed off Connor and got fully back into his seat.

He shook his head. “Christ, what am I going to fucking do?”

“Go home detective.”

“What—”

“I will sort things out with Captain Fowler. Go home.”

“Connor, if I don’t get ahead of this I could fucking—”

“You have had a stressful day detective, and my chances of success increase by twenty-eight percent if I speak to Captain Fowler alone.”

“Success? What the hell does that mean?”

“Do you trust me detective?”

“No.”

“Then I suggest you start doing so now.” Connor opened up the door and got out.

“Hey! Where the fuck are you going?”

“I’ll get a cab back to the precinct. Go home detective. It will all be sorted by tomorrow.”

“But what the fuck does that-fuck,” growled Gavin as Connor closed the door and left. “Fucking androids.”

He honestly thought about ignoring Connor’s orders but he was too tired to go up against Fowler and all the shit that was about to be thrown his way now.

After just taking a moment to collect himself, Gavin went straight home, Boo meowing at him as he walked in the door. She seemed to pick up on his mood and jumped up his back, not caring that she was far too large and fat to do that without causing considerable pain now. Gavin bore with it, grabbing her off his shoulders and flipping her around. She yowled into his ear.

“Don’t fucking worry you big baby. If I lose my job you know I’ll make sure you’re fat and happy first.”

Boo meowed, sounding a little more satisfied with that.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have three more chapters left! Woo! I actually have the next two already written and am starting on the last one now. I just need to do a little editing before I post them but the amount of chapters here is a done deal.
> 
> So with that said, I'm excited to be soon getting to the climax. Thank you all for reading this and sending kudos and comments!

Gavin groaned as he heard his alarm go off. He’d ended up drinking a bit too much last night, angry at himself, angry at that fucking man, angry at his father, just angry. He’d passed out in his bed sometime after midnight and now the last thing he wanted to do was get up.

And god his alarm just kept—

Wait. He didn’t ever set an alarm.

Gavin shot upright only to quickly fall over and right out of bed. With a groan, he reached up and grabbed his phone from the bedside table. Half his face was smooshed against the floor as he held his phone to his free ear.

“Yes?”

“Detective Reed.”

Oh fuck it was Fowler.

“I just wanted to inform you that you’ve been given the next two days off, paid for, in regards to recent events involving a Mr. Erikson. You won’t need to make a statement since the video evidence frees you of any charge.”

“Wh—”

“I know detective, I’m as glad as you to not be writing you up again. It’s just best that you stay out of the way while this is settled but it should come easily enough. Enjoy your days off detective.”

“What?”

Fowler hung up the phone. Gavin glanced at it before just slumping back against the floor. His head hurt too much to try and understand what the hell Fowler had been on about. He laid there for another good hour, actually falling asleep for a bit, until Boo came over to yowl and scratch at his face.

“I’m not fucking dead,” he grumbled. “I’ll feed you damn it. Just give me a minute.”

Gavin forced himself up and threw off his shirt. He grabbed a new one that he was pretty sure was clean and stumbled to the kitchen. He fed Boo, drank some water, fell onto the couch, and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels every few minutes before suddenly stopping.

“Did he say I was freed of any charge?”

Boo meowed.

“Yeah…I’m as confused as you,” muttered Gavin.

He got back up and went to go grab his phone off his bedroom floor. He quickly checked the calls and…well Fowler had definitely called him and Gavin had definitely answered. As far as if he’d hallucinated the entire conversation though, that was still up in the air.

With a sigh, Gavin thought about getting properly dressed. However, if what Fowler had said was real, then Gavin didn’t have to. And if it had all been in his imagination…then going to work would probably just result in his head getting chewed off and spit back at his feet.

He didn’t want to risk that and if he was supposed to go in, well he was late anyways. Fowler could call back when his head was clearer and he knew what was real and what wasn’t.

With that decided, Gavin went back to the kitchen and got out a half eaten, cold pizza from the night before. He moved back to the couch and got comfortable, continuing his channel surfing. Boo sat in the lid half of the pizza box and started eating some of the unfinished crust.

Gavin was almost finished with it when someone suddenly knocked on his door.

“What the fuck?”

Boo snatched a piece of crust and scurried off to the bedroom with the large piece trailing in her mouth.

Gavin went to the door and cracked it open, his frown only deepening. “What the fuck are you doing here Connor?”

“I wanted to see how you were doing. May I come in?”

Gavin really wanted to say no, but he needed to figure out what the hell was going on and Connor would likely know. “Yeah whatever.”

He walked back in, Connor following close behind. Gavin could already tell he was analyzing the area and quickly said, “If you comment on my living condition, I’ll throw you out the damn window.”

“Understood,” Connor murmured, his eyes suddenly lighting up as he looked behind Gavin.

Boo scurried back in, the piece of bread still hanging from her mouth.

“You have a pet?”

“No, she’s my roommate. Yes she’s my pet!” cried Gavin.

Connor ignored him, immediately going to a knee and holding out his hand. Gavin watched, his brow furrowing as he noted the utter joy on the android’s face. Boo finally dropped the crust and went forward, letting Connor pet her right behind the ears.

“So…you like animals?”

“I love them. My favorites are dogs—”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Of course it would be.”

“What’s her name?”

“Boo.”

“Hello Boo. It’s nice to meet you.”

Gavin continued to watch for a moment longer. This was by far the most human Gavin had ever seen Connor. There was literally no point that a detective android would want to play with a pet and yet here they were.

When Connor finally stood up, Boo quickly rubbing against him, Gavin asked, “So what the hell happened at the precinct yesterday?”

“Didn’t you get a call from Captain Fowler?”

“Uh…yes? I just, you know, wanted to hear your version of events. Get our stories straight, and all that,” Gavin shrugged as he went to sit back down on the couch. He looked up to see Connor awkwardly standing there. “You know you can sit if you want.”

“Thank you.”

As he sat in the only chair in the room, excluding the couch, Boo jumped on his lap and curled up.

“Traitor,” Gavin mouthed.

Boo just purred in response.

Gavin rolled his eyes and focused on Connor again. “So what the hell happened?”

“I told Fowler that Mr. Erikson had started it, had provoked you, and you were just defending yourself.”

“But it’s just your word against his? And I’m pretty sure I left that bastard with a black eye to back up his side.”

“I gave them permission to access my memory files of the event. But don’t worry, I altered them.”

Gavin’s mouth fell open. “You can do that!?”

“To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know until I tried.”

“So you were basically bluffing and hoping for the best.”

Connor smiled. “Basically.”

Gavin couldn’t help but laugh at how fucking ridiculous that was. “Maybe you’re more human than I gave you credit for.”

Connor continued to smile and added, “I will say, try to not do something like that again as it was incredibly difficult and I don’t know if I could do it for every situation. The finished product isn’t perfect either but I believe they won’t examine it too closely, not wanting to risk straining android/human relations by showing a distrust of me. For all intents and purposes, it should work. Oh!”

Gavin raised an eyebrow.

“I also wanted to mention that I was able to speak to the little girl and her mother. The mother was not happy with what I said but I do believe she took my words seriously. The little girl asked me if she could trust the adults there and I assured her she could. I had her sit with Chris for a bit while the mother and father were tied up with Fowler. Something good should come out of it and I have made a note to check back on her condition in the coming weeks. I figured you would have wanted someone to do that, and would have done it yourself if you’d been there.”

Gavin found a sense of relief washing over him. Knowing Connor had done that made Gavin feel better about being unable to fix the situation right away. That, coupled with the fact that Connor had saved his ass despite what the rules should have said, made the next set of words escape his lips before he could stop them. “Thank you Connor.”

Shock passed over Connor’s face before a suddenly large and bright smile replaced it.

Gavin winced. “Ok, don’t get too fucking used to it.” Still, his words didn’t diminish Connor’s smile and to be honest, the usual irritation that Gavin felt at just seeing Connor wasn’t even there. He thought about how despite not understanding the situation at first, he had learned from the situation and acted on what he’d learned as well. He’d gone out of his way to try and help that little girl, even though there had been no reason to.

“Maybe…maybe you are more than just an extension of Elijah,” Gavin murmured.

“What do you mean?”

Gavin looked back over. “Because you fucking took care of that kid. Because you…you were being nice to me afterwards even though I hadn’t given you a reason to be.”

“And Elijah wouldn’t have?”

“Elijah just doesn’t fucking care! His mother would even say and do shit to him and he’d either shove back a logical response or just not say anything at all,” growled Gavin. “I tried protecting him, tried helping him, only to realize too late that it didn’t fucking matter. It never affected Elijah. Later he would even get fucking defensive if I tried to bring that shit up. I mean fine! So he didn’t care. But I would have thought he’d acknowledge how much of a bitch his mother was to me at the very least. But no! He fucking defended her!”

Gavin rubbed at his eyes, turning around so he was just lying on the couch rather than sitting. Boo jumped off Connor and went to sit on Gavin’s chest.

“That’s why you hate androids.”

“What?”

“You think them cold and emotionless, like the brother you fell out with.”

“Congratulations Connor. You got me in a fucking box,” growled Gavin.

Connor watched as Gavin petted Boo a few times before the cat turned around and bit his finger. He just shoved it farther into her mouth so she couldn’t do any real damage and she just gnawed on it instead.

“Is it possible that there is another side to the story?”

“Listen, if it sounds like Elijah and I had good times. We did. Sure. But those times don’t really mean shit when he won’t even acknowledge the shit I’ve been through. That we’ve both been through.”

“But perhaps there is more to Kamski’s side?”

“Yeah. I don’t fucking think so.”

“Maybe so, but would you be willing to speak with him about it?” asked Connor.

“Hell no!” Gavin yelled, Boo spooking and jumping back to the floor. “I mean…ok listen. I’m not going to be the one fucking reaching out. I already tried that shit and he broke my nose for it. But…if he reached out first, said he was ready to finally fucking apologize, maybe. Maybe I’d talk to the prick.”

Gavin was looking away so he didn’t see how Connor’s LED had been rapidly blinking yellow. He had an idea but he didn’t say it to Gavin just yet. Instead he said, “I should get going now. I told Hank I’d only be gone a few minutes.”

“Right,” Gavin quickly stood up as Connor did.

“You shouldn’t be asked anything in regard to the assault, but if you are, remember Mr. Erikson called you a pig, grabbed you, and threw you against the wall before you defended yourself.”

“Just that? It’s a fucking piece of cake,” snorted Gavin. “Not a problem.”

“Good, I’ll see you in a few days detective.”

Connor went to the front door and Gavin followed him. It would have been easy to just shove Connor out, slam the door and lock it shut, but Gavin stopped himself. Connor also paused from just leaving, clearly expecting some type of treatment like that. But Gavin found himself, and god he couldn’t believe this was true, but he found himself just wanting to speak to Connor. Not as an android, not one of his brother’s creations, but just Connor.

Of course, it being Gavin, he had to insult Connor before he said anything nice.

“You’ve got shit people skills. And even if you’ve got good intentions, trying to pressure people into doing shit is going to backfire on you one day, fair warning. And you need to make more fucking noise when you walk. It’s creepy as shit when you just appear behind people. And you need to learn how to pick up on the physical tells people will give away. Not the fucking bruises or an obvious smirk or frown. And obviously you can’t always rely on a fucking LED to know if someone is stressed to the max. I’m talking smaller or you’re going to miss a lot of shit even with your fancy ass forensic techniques.”

Gavin paused.

“Thank…you?”

“Yeah, you’re fucking welcome,” muttered Gavin. “And uh…as far as I’m concerned the rest of the androids are still up in the air. Ok? But you’re not half bad.”

“Does…this make us friends?”

“Not likely! I said half bad! The rest is still a plastic prick!”

Connor just smiled. “I’ll still count that as progress. Thank you Detective Reed.”

“Yeah well…you probably saved my fucking job. So…yeah.”

Connor continued to smile and Gavin quickly turned to glare at him.

“What? Are you waiting for another thank you? I thanked you once! That fucking fills my quota for the next five years so hurry up and go. Fuck off!” Gavin yelled, though the bite that had once been in his voice was definitely gone.

Connor just chuckled and said, “I’ll see you later Detective Reed. Have a good break.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Out!”

Now Gavin pushed Connor out with a sigh of relief. He locked his door and then quickly went to collapse on his couch again. Boo jumped up and started yowling at him.

“What the fuck do you want? A treat? You just finished eating all the pizza crust!”

She continued to whine.

“And you’re a fucking traitor too. I mean choosing the damn android over me. Like fucking really?”

Boo meowed and pawed at his face.

“Okay fine! I’m getting up! Christ.”

Gavin got up and headed back to the kitchen to grab treats, Boo letting out a triumphant meow as she padded along behind him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this chapter is a little shorter but trust me, the next two chapters definitely make up for this one's length. The next chapter will finally be the one where they meet and the story will finally be wrapping up!
> 
> A huge thank you as always <3

Elijah had met Carl Manfred at age seventeen. Even early on, he’d stayed out of the public eye. It didn’t matter how high his IQ was and what he’d already accomplished. Most adults felt threatened dealing with a kid. Of course, most of those adults were boring time wasters and Elijah was fine hiding in the shadows to avoid them anyways.

However, Professor Stern did convince him to go on the occasional outing. Even if he chose to remain anonymous, interacting with people and getting to figure out the who’s who of the upper class world could be helpful barring a new partnership with Cyberlife. Not every gathering they went to was strictly centered around scientific research but Professor Stern assured him that there was still usefulness in those around him, even if the connections weren’t obvious.

That was how Elijah met Carl, a man already in his fifties that was far cooler and way more wild than Elijah ever would be. Despite the massive age difference, Elijah made it a point to go to the infamous painter’s gatherings, to listen to his words and understand his art. Elijah couldn’t help but wonder if an AI would be able to paint, not just copies but from its own thoughts and emotions.

Professor Stern of course always warned him of that thinking. He didn’t mind, it being good to discuss with someone who opposed some of his opinions. However, the new thoughts and discussions that came from speaking with someone that was open to his ideas was also welcomed. That was how their unlikely friendship was born, talking of philosophy and art and what even constituted as art.

Could a machine make art? What was the criteria? If a machine copied another painting, was that art or just a more advanced version of copying and pasting something in the real world?

Elijah loved discussing such possibilities and the implications of such thought. However, after the accident, that friendship had become strained. Elijah watched Carl spiral into depression, watched his love of painting disappear, and Elijah didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t good with emotions and he couldn’t be there for Carl at all times like he now needed.

Thus, Markus had been born and the rest was history.

After Elijah’s dismissal from Cyberlife, he’d seen Carl only once more and talked to him little.

Despite the lack of contact though, Carl would always be an important part of Elijah’s life and the teachings would always remain with him, both the philosophy and the painting. During their friendship, Carl had taught him, not that Elijah had been a great student.

He’d eventually gotten many of the technical aspects down but his brush never flowed like Carl’s did. Still, the act of painting brought him back to those happy times, even if he wasn’t very good at it. He was painting now when Chloe walked in. She walked up behind him and jumped, her feet making a loud slap against the floor and causing Elijah to jump himself, his brush haphazardly running off the canvas. He blinked, cocked his head a bit to examine the new stroke, shrugged and turned around to see Chloe.

“What was that?”

“In the movies, a character often comes running in and slams many books and files on a desk to symbolize the amount of research they’ve done,” Chloe said. “I don’t have any books but I wanted to make a similar entrance.”

Elijah chuckled at that. “And what have you been researching?”

“Trauma.”

“An interesting and difficult topic to understand. Each person who goes through trauma is unique in their ways of coping and healing from it,” Elijah said. “Why are you interested in it?”

Chloe frowned, her own brow furrowing with worry. Instead of stating her worry, she worked around it and said, “I’m interested in it for the same reasons you stated. The signs aren’t always obvious and sometimes a trigger must be introduced to actually see the effects of the trauma.”

Elijah nodded. “Overall, humans are a submissive species. Many will avoid conflict if at all possible as it is often the easiest path, though not always the healthiest one.”

“Hmm, does that sound like anyone you know?”

“No. Why?”

Chloe’s frown deepened. Instead of answering, she said, “Childhood trauma can especially be difficult to deal with. Repressing memories of past abuse can affect the child years later.”

“Yes, it’s simple psychology. But I don’t understand why you’ve become so focused on this.”

“Because…because of what happened yesterday.”

Elijah blinked, lost and confused. “What happened yesterday?”

 “You remember, don’t you? The panic attack?”

“No.” Yes.

“You’re lying Elijah.”

“No.” Yes. “I’m not sure what you’re implying here.”

“Elijah, you’re only going to hurt yourself along the way if you don’t accept this. Maybe not tomorrow, but this will continue to negatively affect you until…until perhaps you do something that I am unable to protect you from,” Chloe murmured.

“You needn’t worry so much. If this is troubling you so much, I can introduce a line of coding to ease your stress. It’ll have its own self destruct time. Think of it like a sedative to humans.”

“No thank you Elijah,” Chloe murmured.

“Well the offer will still stand,” Elijah replied, turning back to the painting and picking another color.

Chloe let out a tired sigh. She wasn’t getting anywhere trying to be coy and Elijah was just shutting her down at every turn.

“Were you yelled as a child? Hit at any time?”

She watched as Elijah’s brush sharply went down. The paints and tools clattered around him as he fell forward, catching himself. Chloe took a step forward, hand out but Elijah held up his own to stop her from getting any closer.

“I’d appreciate it if we no longer discussed this topic,” Elijah harshly said. “Continue researching if you wish but do not bring this topic up with me again.”

Chloe’s eyes widened. She’d never heard Elijah use such a tone and it took her a moment to identify it. She compared it to the movies and TV shows she’d seen, eventually realizing it was a mix of anger and fear. Humans became volatile when such emotions took control. Chloe wasn’t afraid of Elijah. She could easily stop him if he rashly did something. However, she didn’t want to hurt him and suspected pushing farther would only result in that. Not in any kind of growth.

“Very well Elijah. I’ll leave you to your painting.”

Elijah didn’t turn around as Chloe left. She felt something new inside her, a feeling that was ugly and painful. She searched to identify it and eventually fell on discouraged. Yes, she felt discouraged and she really did not like that feeling.

If she continued to push Elijah, nothing would come of it. They would fight and Elijah would hurt himself further by trying to ignore what was happening. She needed someone else. Someone who was more familiar with what had happened and would be able to fully understand what Elijah was going through.

Chloe had only met Gavin once and the meeting between him and Elijah had gone anything but well. However, the past years had proven that Elijah hadn’t cut Gavin out of his life entirely what with his constant checking of Gavin’s progress in the police force.

And Gavin would be the one person who would understand what Elijah was going through above all else…the issue was whether or not there was any love left on Gavin’s side.

Just then, a call came in. Chloe identified it as the Connor that had visited them before with Lieutenant Anderson. She walked farther away from Elijah and sat down in the living room before answering the call.

“This is Chloe. Is there something I can help you with detective?”

Chloe’s LED blinked yellow as Connor responded. “Perhaps. I wish to set up a meeting with Kamski.”

“I’m not sure now is a great time. But if what you’re working on is—”

“Oh no, this isn’t a police matter. More of a personal one.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve become better acquainted with Detective Reed in the past weeks. I understand he is Kamski’s half-brother.”

“I’m surprised he gave you the information willingly.”

“He didn’t. He was quite upset at first but we’ve come to an understanding since then. I believe now some good could also come of him meeting with Kamski again. He only asks that Kamski reaches out first and promises to apology to him.”

“Elijah won’t agree to that. Particularly not right now.”

“I suspected as much. However, I do think forcing them together could be very beneficial to Detective Reed, not only with his anger issues but also his viewpoint on androids.”

“To be perfectly honest, I’ve been thinking that meeting with his brother could be helpful to Elijah as well. But Elijah won’t make the first move and I think it’s doubtful Gavin would agree otherwise,” Chloe said.

“Yes, from Detective Reed’s stories I have a feeling they are both quite stubborn, more so than most humans. Because of that, I suggest we lie. You don’t tell Kamski he’s coming and I’ll inform Detective Reed that Kamski is willing to apologize in order to force him to the house. This is why I’ve contacted you. I’ll need your help for this to work.”

Chloe was quiet, mulling the plan over in her head. “We’ll need to lock them in a room together,” she finally said. “Otherwise they will both try and leave.”

“That makes since. So you’ll help me?”

“Absolutely Connor.”

“How does this weekend work? Detective Reed is off this Saturday.”

“That sounds good, and it will give Elijah time to cool off.”

“I’ll try to have Detective Reed out of bed and ready by ten. We’ll be there just before eleven.”

“Perfect. I look forward to seeing you again Connor.”

The call ended and Chloe looked back in the direction of Elijah. She wrung her hands together. Humans were so unpredictable, and Elijah and Gavin were easily two of the most unpredictable ones. She just hoped this worked for Elijah’s sake.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally here! This is basically the climax, what everything has been building up to, but don't worry, there is one last chapter to end everything on a fluffy, happy note. A huge thank you for everyone who's been reading this. I'm sad that we're almost over but seriously, thank you! I've had a blast writing this!

Gavin had been skeptical when Connor came to him and said Elijah wanted to talk. It was just too good to be true but then Connor had sheepishly admitted that he’d spoken with Elijah first instead of the other way around. However, he still hoped Gavin would go, considering Elijah had apparently promised the apology Gavin had demanded.

That had made it a bit more realistic, though Gavin wouldn’t be surprised if Connor was trying at a larger game. Whatever, the date and time was set and Gavin was officially going. Besides, even if Connor was lying behind his back, at the very least Gavin would get a chance to punch Elijah for the fucking nose incident.

That Saturday morning, Connor showed up at his door at exactly nine o’clock. Gavin groaned and grumbled and told him to just give him a moment as he took a shower and got dressed. When he came out, he saw that Connor had something in his hand.

“You’ve done a number on this photo,” Connor commented with a raised eyebrow.

Gavin realized it was the old picture he’d taken of him and Elijah. It had just been sitting in the wastepaper basket for weeks, Gavin never getting around to taking the trash out. Connor had managed to get it out of the broken frame and though it was definitely damaged, it looked a bit better without the cracked and bloody glass covering it.

“I was going to throw it away.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I’ve been busy alright! Just give it here!” Gavin snatched it back and tossed it into the kitchen trash. As he went to refill Boo’s water bowl, out of the corner of his eyes he saw Connor taking the photo back out. He brushed it off and set it on the counter. Gavin sighed but decided it didn’t matter. He’d throw it away later. Whatever.

Connor had actually taken Hank’s car so Gavin got into the old relic and said, “So does Anderson know you’re here right now?”

“Yes, though I of course didn’t tell him the full reason.”

“I’m surprised he let you take the car.”

“It’s his off day as well. He promised that he wouldn’t need it,” Connor replied. “He is suspicious though. He does not quite believe we are friends now Detective Reed.”

“We’re not fucking friends. Ok? We’ve just moved from fucking enemies to colleagues, alright? And just stop with the Detective Reed shit? Ok? We’re not partners, you’re not my fucking subordinate, and it’s too damn formal. Just call me Gavin, got it?”

“Then does that make us friends?”

“We’re not fucking friends,” grumbled Gavin as Connor just continued to smile.

On the drive over, they ended up falling into conversations about work, Connor discussing a case he and Hank were working on. It was weird, it honestly being the first time they were acting like proper colleagues. It wasn’t too bad. Listening to Connor’s words rather than just shrugging him off was new for Gavin but he had slowly started to see Connor as an individual, not a thing. It was also nice knowing that despite his fancy forensic shit, it didn’t mean Connor knew everything or was perfect at his job. There were things he was better at and things Hank were better at and the same went for every other cop at the DPD.

He wasn’t a threat to Gavin’s job and just because he was robotic didn’t make him perfect. Maybe androids wouldn’t just replace everyone. Maybe there was something to all the stuff the news was saying about there being equality for everyone and all that peace shit too.

Gavin of course wasn’t going to say that to Connor though. He wasn’t quite there yet, but he did have to admit, he did not hate the android like the first time he’d seen him.

They arrived at the house and Gavin followed Connor up to the front door. They didn’t even have time to knock before he watched a Chloe model open it.

“Of course he’s not fucking good enough to open his own damn door,” Gavin grumbled under his breath.

Still, he walked in with Connor close behind when suddenly—

The moment Gavin felt Connor grab him he just fucking knew.

“Oh you asshole!”

“Trust me Gavin, this will do you both some good,” Connor calmly said as he dragged him through the house with Chloe leading the way.

“I retract every good thing I said about you!” Gavin yelled as he continued to pointlessly struggle. “Fucking androids!”

They got to a door, Chloe removing the skin of her hand to unlock it and Connor quickly throwing Gavin in. Chloe locked the door behind him and turned to Connor.

“We should give them privacy but I would like to remain nearby in case something happens. Elijah hasn’t exactly been well.”

Connor nodded. “I agree. It would be best being able to intervene if something does happen. Perhaps while they speak, you could tell me fully what’s been occurring with Kamski?”

As the two walked away to talk, Gavin was pushing himself up from where he’d fallen onto the floor. He was in Elijah’s bedroom and Elijah, who’d had no idea what was going on but had accepted Chloe wouldn’t open the door, was sitting cross-legged in bed with a book in his hands.

They both just stared at each other before Elijah’s shock turned to match Gavin’s irritation.

“Chloe!”

“Oh don’t even try. They both probably fucked off already.”

Elijah frowned. “Both?”

“Yeah, the boy wonder prototype. Connor fucking pulled one over on me and now I’m fucking here,” growled Gavin. “Listen, I’ve got fucking nothing to say to you unless you apologize, and seeing as that won’t fucking happen, you can stay on your fucking bed, I’ll sit here, and we’ll wait.” Gavin put his back against the door and slid down, resting his arms on his knees as he glared at his brother. “You fine with that?”

“Perfectly,” Elijah replied, his eyes immediately going back to his book like Gavin wasn’t even there.

Gavin pulled out his phone, very much ready for the long haul and for a few minutes, it actually worked. Both adamantly ignored the other, noses pressed to their respective distractions. However, as Gavin messed around in the latest version of _Candy Crush_ , Elijah did glance up a few times.

There had been a few photos of Gavin that Elijah had found accompanying some of the articles he’d read of his brother. He knew of the scar but it was different seeing it right in front of him. He thought about how painful that must have been and guilt rose in Elijah’s heart.

He tried to focus back on the words of the book but as he found himself re-reading the same passage again and again, Elijah finally chose to close it. Gavin looked up. He looked weary but hopeful, clearly waiting for Elijah to make the first move.

“I…I am sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Gavin leaned forward just a little.

“I shouldn’t have pushed you. I’m sorry about your nose.”

That look of hope disappeared from Gavin’s face though, replaced with anger as he shot to his feet. “Oh that is so fucking typical of you!”

“What? What is so typical of me!” yelled Elijah, throwing his book to the side and quickly standing as well. “Is it typical that I try to be nice and you just spit in my face because yes, that does sound accurate to me.”

“Nice? How is any of what you did nice?”

“What I did? I tried Gavin. I fucking tried with you!”

“Oh, was that a naughty word out of the great Kamski’s mouth?” Gavin sarcastically growled. “I thought talk like that was beneath you.”

“If it comes from someone like you, yes! You never say anything important. You just insult and yell and cause trouble,” Elijah shot back.

“Oh, so that’s what I was for you. An annoying tick huh!? No wonder you wanted to get fucking rid of me! Did you fucking hate seeing me? Did being near me just drain all your fucking creativity!?”

“You wanted to be out of my life. You said—”

“I know what I fucking said!”

“And there you go again. Interrupting me and never letting me get a word out.”

“Get a word out? All you do is fucking words?! You talk and you talk and it’s all bullshit!”

“Figures someone of your intellect would call what I do bullshit.”

“Because it is! Any normal person would have fucking relationships with others, would be out in the world, but no, not you! You made your perfect little world and shut everyone else out! It didn’t matter what it fucking was! Your fucking professor, Cyberlife, the androids, every fucking time you chose them over me because I wasn’t on the right side of the fucking glass!”

“Who was it that bailed you out of jail your freshmen year of college? Who bought you food when you lost that part time job?”

“It doesn’t matter that you fucking did that!”

“It doesn’t matter? How—”

“Because when I needed you most, you chose your fucking projects. That’s how. I did some stupid shit and would have been stuck in jail for three days. So what! I was twenty years old! It fucking happens. And so what about the fucking part time job? I wouldn’t have fucking starved! I got another job eventually and I probably would have just table hopped for a bit. Don’t act like you were some fucking savior!” ranted Gavin.

“So what, you would have preferred if I hadn’t helped at all?”

“Honestly, yes. Because it would have shown me who you really fucking were a hell of a lot sooner.”

“Like you aren’t doing the same thing right now.” As they had yelled at each other, both had gotten incrementally closer and closer. Elijah shoved his finger into Gavin’s chest. “So full of fucking hate, this is exactly what I expected from you. The brother I cared for has been gone for a long time and just replaced with this vengeful piece of shit in front of me.”

“You cared for me? When did you care for me? Huh, tell me because I never got a fucking thank you for all the shit I did for you, never got a pat on the back or a ‘don’t worry it’ll be ok Gavin’.”

“That’s your problem. You take, you take and you take and when you don’t receive you lash out like the spoiled child you’ve always been and when someone asks you for something, you suddenly just turn your back. You always have!”

“Spoiled child! Really?! You’re fucking going there!?”

“It’s true. Spoiled and jealous and never doing anything for yourself.”

“Jealous? What the fuck do I have to be jealous about? You!?”

“What else?”

Gavin suddenly burst into laughter but the sound was anything but joyous, instead coming off as nasty and cruel. “You think I was fucking jealous of you? I never fucking cared about your money, your fucking brain. I sure as hell would never have wanted to be put in your fucking position.”

“Wouldn’t you? Why else would you want me to apologize?”

“Apolo-what the hell do you think I want you to apologize for?!”

“For leaving you in the dust. For never giving you what you thought you deserved. For making sure you could never benefit off of Cyberlife.”

Gavin started laughing again. It just kept coming. He even had to lean over, putting his hands on his knees as the noise belted from his lips.

“Stop it. Stop laughing!”

Gavin stood up straight again, wiping the tears away that were at the corners of his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he sarcastically said. “I just don’t think I’ve heard something that funny in a long time.”

“What the hell is so funny about that? It’s true.”

“True? No, it fucking wasn’t, though I will give you credit for getting exactly one word right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Only that you’re as cold and as heartless as I fucking thought. Of course you thought I was jealous!” Gavin yelled, throwing his hands up in the air. “What else could it have been? Not a human emotion, certainly.”

“Jealousy is a human emotion dumbass.”

“Not what I meant! My point is that you’re too callous too ever think there’s a more innocent reason for all this.”

“I’m surprised you even used that word correctly. Isn’t callous a bit too tough for you?”

Gavin immediately punched the smug look off Elijah’s face as hard and as fast as he could.

Elijah didn’t look surprised though, just touching his suddenly bleeding upper lip before looking back to his brother. “And there you go again, just falling on violence when things don’t go your way.”

“It serves you right! You broke my fucking nose!”

“I apologized for that—”

“But not for what matters.”

“Oh that’s right, because apparently I got it wrong,” Elijah sarcastically replied. “So tell me, what word did I get right? What innocent reason could you possibly have for thinking you deserve an apology from me?”

“Leaving,” Gavin deadpanned.

“What?”

“You wanted to know the word, well there it is. The one you got right out of the hundreds of other words that have just been spewing bullshit from your mouth.”

“What could you possibly mean by leaving?”

“Um, how about when you fucked off to college and left me alone?” asked Gavin.

“You said you would be fine,” Elijah responded, still utterly confused.

“And you bought that? You left me alone! You fucking abandoned me!”

“You had father and—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit again! We already fought over it!” Gavin screamed. “I had fucking no one! But you? You got your new life. You got your new fucking parents.”

“I didn’t get—”

“Your best friends were an elderly painter and your own fucking professor! Your own surrogate dad and mom, but you know what? I didn’t have an out like you! I didn’t get to choose my own fucking parents! You left me alone for seven fucking years! Seven years where I had to put up with the name calling and the abuse and the fucking hitting while you were out there living your life!”

Elijah blinked in surprise. Gavin had progressively gotten closer and closer again and now Elijah found himself taking a step back. “They didn’t—”

“Oh don’t start with that shit! Father was never around! He was absent our entire fucking lives and when he was around, he was policing every little thing we did!” yelled Gavin. “I know you didn’t care when he hit you for having the TV playing two minutes after it was seven but he did the same thing to me and it fucking hurt!”

“He didn’t-he never—”

“Or how about all the times your fuckwit of a mother called me a whore’s child!? What about when we were fucking four years old and I called her mom because I didn’t fucking know better and she nearly broke my arm!?”

The image of Gavin crying, arm twisted at a painful angle, flashed in Elijah’s mind. He shook his head. “No you—”

“I just don’t fucking get it. I really fucking don’t. You’re more of an emotionless tin can than any of the fucking androids you’ve created! I mean to go through what you’ve been through and be so fucking detached that you just shrug it off? That you try and fucking defend her?”

“She didn’t—”

Gavin shoved Elijah hard. The back of his knees hit the edge of his bed and he fell back, looking up as Gavin leaned over him.

“And there you fucking go again!” Gavin yelled in his face. “Just fucking defending her! You’re retarded Elijah. Why are you so defective Elijah?”

“N-n-no—”

“What? Do you not remember that? Did you just wipe that from your fucking mind?! You’re not normal Elijah! You’re wrong Elijah!” Gavin continued to yell, mimicking the voice of Mrs. Kamski.

“She didn’t—”

“Even when you went off to fucking university, she didn’t fucking care! Not until she realized you could make some fucking money! She was fucking using you!”

“Stop.” It came out whispered, desperate, but Gavin didn’t.

“Stop? Oh, so now you want me to fucking stop!? Why? It’s not like you fucking care! All the times she dragged you across the floor, tried to make you do shit that you didn’t want to do because she wanted you to act fucking normal!? You want me to stop talking about that?! Or what about the Christmases full of tears and fucking nights locked in our rooms!”

“Please, Gavin—”

“Please? Oh that’s fucking rich. Now you want to beg?! After all the times I would beg you to come back for just one day, for just a short break so I wouldn’t be fucking alone and you threw me away for your fucking projects and your fucking professor? I had to fucking come to you in order to see you at all and that was with my own fucking money half the time because no one wanted to pay for me! And now you expect me to stop just because you fucking say please?! You call me fucking spoiled but the moment I fucking stand up to you, you can’t handle it?! Who’s the fucking spoiled brat now?! You fucking worthless piece of—”

“ _Stop_!!! Just stop! P-please just…please…”

Gavin felt himself freeze, his eyes widening as he watched…holy shit. Tears?

Instinctively, the police officer in him that was trained to deal with traumatized victims kicked into gear. Sure, he was really fucking confused but he quickly changed his behavior like he was dealing with any victim. Going to his knees so that way he was no longer leaning over him, Gavin made sure to keep his hands open, no longer the angry fists they’d just been.

He lowered his voice, going for soft and gentle.

“Alright,” he murmured. “I stopped. It’s ok. Everything’s ok.”

“O-ok. I’m…I’m fine. I’m fine,” Elijah whispered, eyes squeezed shut and fingers pulling at his own hair. “It didn’t happen. I’m fine. It didn’t—”

“What didn’t happen?”

“It-nothing. Nothing. She…she never—”

“Elijah…I need you to listen to me,” murmured Gavin. In just a few words he was starting to understand a lot of shit that he probably should have seen years ago. He still had a fuck ton of questions but as much as he wanted to force the answers out, he forced himself to distance himself just a bit. He couldn’t act as a brother, not yet. “Look at me so I know you’re listening.”

Very slowly, Elijah opened his eyes. His gaze flitted to Gavin and away a few times before finally settling on him again.

“You’re not going to want to hear this,” Gavin continued, voice still soft and soothing. “I know you won’t but I need you to repeat after me. Ok? Just repeat these words. I was abused by my parents. Just that. I was abused.”

“B-but I wasn’t. It’s fine—”

“Elijah, it happened,” Gavin carefully pressed. “You were abused by your parents. But you weren’t alone when it happened. You’re not alone now. Just say it.”

Elijah’s hands dropped into his lap. “I can’t. Gavin, please I-I can’t—”

“You can. I know you can.”

“I don’t-I don’t want to. Please don’t…”

“No one wants to admit something like this. No one wants to acknowledge when something like this happens. But ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It’ll just build and build until you’re broken by it. And when that happens, you can’t do anything because you refused for so long to acknowledge those pieces of yourself even existed. Suddenly you don’t know how you even fit together anymore. You don’t want that to happen Elijah. You need to look.”

“But I’m fine. I’m—”

At this point, Gavin felt confident enough that he finally reached out. He took his brother’s hands, now feeling just how bad he was trembling. He needed to change tactics. He decided to go with a different line of questioning.

“Tell me this then. When you left, you did all you could so you wouldn’t have to come back home.”

“I didn’t abandon you! I-I wasn’t trying to-I didn’t—”

“Don’t think of that. Just…tell me what it was like going to university.”

“It was fine. It was good. I learned at my own pace. I got away and—”

“You got away,” Gavin interrupted. “Exactly. You got away so…tell me. Why did you avoid coming home afterwards?”

“I-I…”

“Why?”

“I wanted-I wanted to escape. I just wanted to leave and never go back. Please, please I’m sorry just…stop…please…”

Gavin felt numb. His limbs were heavy, everything pulling towards the floor and not wanting him to move. He’d thought Elijah hadn’t cared. He’d thought Elijah had abandoned him for so fucking long. Christ, how could all of this gotten turned around so fucking easily?

“You’re doing good. Ok? Just…I know it hurts but don’t let the memories disappear. Don’t push this down. You’re not alone. I’m here now. Ok?” Gavin sighed. “Fight it. I know you can. I’ll…I’ll be right back.”

He stood up. Elijah was still holding his hands and Gavin carefully untangled himself. “I promise. Ok? Take a shower if it helps, clean yourself up but keep holding onto those thoughts. I’ll just be a moment.”

Turning his back on his brother, Gavin went to the door and took a deep breath. He doubted both androids were just standing right outside the door but he hoped their superior hearing would mean they could hear him.

“I need you to unlock the door. I need to get some things,” Gavin said. He waited a few seconds until he heard the door unlocking. Gavin quickly slipped out, closing it behind him before either could catch sight of Elijah.

Gavin walked up to Connor first before either android could say anything. “I think I’m going to be here for a while. Would you feed my cat tonight and tomorrow morning?”

“Of course Gavin. I’ll contact Fowler and explain your likely absence tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” sighed Gavin. As he handed his keys over, he paused and then really looked at Connor, shaking his head. “You’re a piece of shit for hiding all this behind my back but…thank you. I don’t think I would have ever come here otherwise.”

“I hope something good comes of it,” Connor murmured. “If you want, you can contact me when you’re ready to go home. I don’t mind picking you up.”

“Thanks,” Gavin mumbled again. God, he felt like today was going to be the world record for how many times he told an android thank you.

Connor started to head out and Gavin turned to the Chloe. “Any other androids here?”

“The others left when they deviated.”

“But you stayed. I’m guessing that makes you…a friend?”

“I believe we have that kind of relationship, yes.”

“Ok…ok good. I can work with that,” muttered Gavin.

“What are you planning?” Chloe murmured.

“You have any normal fucking food here? Like soup? Something simple?” asked Gavin.

“I think I can manage that.”

“Alright, I want you to make just some quick food. Do you have a TV?”

“One, in the living room.”

“Show me.”

As that happened, Elijah remained sitting on the bed, eyes tightly shut again. So many different words, different memories and images were passing through his head. He could barely focus on anything-he didn’t want to focus on anything!

But Gavin’s last words managed to be just a little louder than all the rest.

Elijah escaped to the bathroom, taking out his contacts from his irritated and eyes and getting under the hot spray of the shower. It hurt his skin and the noise of the water echoed off the tile. He just needed to drown it all out. Drown out the noise and distract the pain with something else.

He started to cry, bent forward with hands pressed against the wall as he hid behind his own hair.

While this went on, Gavin followed Chloe throughout the house. Once they got to the living room, Gavin let out a slight groan. “Of fucking course it looks like this in here. Whatever…I think I can work with this.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“You’ll see. Just focus on the food and uh…I’m guessing you don’t have junk food shit, huh?”

Chloe shook her head.

“No idea how you get food all the way out here but if you can, get some shit.” Gavin made her a quick list and added, “It’s not vital but it’ll help I think.”

“Bad food…will help?”

“Just trust me on this. I sort of know what I’m doing,” sighed Gavin. “I got here sorted out. Just focus on the food.”

Chloe raised a skeptical eyebrow but nodded. Once she was gone, Gavin went to work quickly, not wanting to leave Elijah alone for too long.

As Gavin moved the furniture around and completely disrupted the flow of the living room, he couldn’t help but think about how much of a fucking moron he’d been. Both of them really. He’d gotten so angry that he’d never thought why Elijah did all the shit he did. Gavin hadn’t been trained to deal with victims then. He hadn’t seen the signs, realized he should have been pushing Elijah to acknowledge what had happened rather than just becoming distant and thinking only of himself.

And of course Elijah had thought him jealous. With what little information he had allowed himself to take in, it just made perfect fucking since.

How much time had Gavin lost? How much had they both lost out of a fucking misunderstanding? How much time could they have spent together, been proper brothers but their own fucking trauma had gotten in the way?

He was so fucking angry with himself. For the first time, he truly wished neither their father or Mrs. Kamski were dead so he could go and finally punch their fucking lights out like he’d wanted to do for so fucking long.

With a sigh, he’d managed to shove a bunch of shit together to make it more cozy and warm, damn the aesthetic of the place. He went looking for Chloe, managed to eventually find the kitchen, and asked if there were any spare sheets or pillows that he could grab.

After getting directions to a closet, Gavin grabbed what he needed, went back to the living room, and finished up his plan. He could have continued to sit there with Elijah. He could have continued to softly press the issue. Every time Elijah tried to mask the pain, Gavin would try and open up the wound again and make him see it, but there was no way of knowing if that would ultimately solve anything. Maybe they’d just get stuck in that back and forth.

No, Elijah needed a shock to his system, kind of like what had made him show how fucking hurt he was in the first place. However, continuing to be angry and just yelling about the shit that had happened to them would be focusing too much on the bad. But if Gavin made him see what came with the bad, the brotherly support, the willingness to defend him, and the love that had once been there…well just maybe it would work.

He finished up and quickly found his way back to Elijah’s room. He opened the door and saw he wasn’t on the bed anymore. He carefully made his way to the open bathroom door and looked to see Elijah leaning over a sink.

Hair dripping and loose, contacts out and glasses on, this was the Elijah Gavin better remembered.

Moving closer, Gavin tried to be comforting but Elijah instantly flinched as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Shit, sorry,” muttered Gavin. He waited for Elijah to say something but he was keeping his eyes shut. He was trying to shut it all out and Gavin got that. There’d been plenty of fucking times that he’d wanted to do the same thing. But he couldn’t. It wouldn’t change anything if he did.

Gavin grabbed a towel and rubbed Elijah’s hair dry, the motion reminiscent of some of their better times together before he grabbed a hair tie and put his hair up in a fucking awful bun. At that point, Gavin finally urged Elijah to turn around.

“Hey, brother, look at me. Ok?”

Elijah slowly did.

“We’re going to watch a movie.”

“What?”

“Just trust me. Ok? Grab a shirt and follow me to the living room.”

Elijah slowly did. Gavin made note of how he kept closing his eyes for long moments of time, kept looking away, trying not to look, trying to believe it wasn’t real. However, he did follow Gavin, stopping at the opening of the living room.

“You’ve destroyed it.”

“Yeah yeah, we can put it back together later. Just, come on,” Gavin said, gesturing for Elijah to come over. He got Elijah to sit down on the couch in the mass of pillows and blankets that were there just as Chloe came in from the other entrance, a tray in hand.

Gavin quickly walked over and took it from her, softly saying, “Thanks. Just…give us some time. It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.”

Chloe nodded, quickly leaving the room as Gavin came back. He had no idea how she’d managed it but she’d somehow gotten a fair amount of the things Gavin had asked for. He set them down, being careful with the soup but otherwise haphazardly throwing everything else around the table. He placed the soup in Elijah’s hands and grabbed a bag of chips for himself. He told the TV to play. It had taken a while to remember what service owned the movie and then remembering his own passwords for the shit but he’d managed and now _Blade Runner: The Final Cut_ was on.

It was obvious Elijah was confused but he didn’t question it. Gavin urged him to eat and Elijah slowly did. God, Gavin hoped this fucking worked.

They watched the movie in silence for a while. The other time, the time that Gavin was trying to recreate, they’d argued over which one to watch first. Gavin had wanted to watch _2049_ because the visuals were better and it wasn’t old as shit. However, Elijah had been the one who was sick so Gavin had relented to him and they’d watched the older one.

Elijah had been slowly drinking soup while breathing around his stuffy nose, and Gavin had noisily been munching on a bunch of snack food. Elijah had occasionally grabbed some chocolate, the only thing that Gavin had brought in that interested him. He even did the same thing now, the movie continuing to play as Harrison Ford went from scene to scene.

Those parts had been good, nice. But just looking at those moments didn’t show the whole memory. Gavin watched carefully when the part in the movie was coming up, the part where their momentary peace had broken.

He’d done a good enough job of recreating the scene apparently because Elijah was remembering despite how hard he clearly didn’t want to. He could shut his eyes but he couldn’t shut out the noise.

Gavin paused at the same part he had in his memory. Their father had come in, that cold anger radiating from him.

“What did I tell you about noise after seven o’clock? That’s what he said.”

Elijah was shaking again but Gavin pressed. Taking the bowl out of Elijah’s hands, Gavin repeated what he could remember, word for word before holding up his hand. There was a small scar on his pinky finger that he could tell Elijah was already zeroing in on.

“And then he stepped towards you but I stepped in between. What did he do Elijah? What did he do?”

“He…I told you not to—”

“I know you did,” whispered Gavin. “But you know me. I never was good at listening to you.”

A broken sob escaped Elijah’s lips.

“You told me it wasn’t worth it but I didn’t listen. What did he do?”

“He…I told you not to. I said it was my fault the movie was on,” Elijah got out, his voice becoming more and more broken. “But you wouldn’t…you wouldn’t back down and he…he slapped you and you…you fell wrong and broke your pinky and…and he wouldn’t take you to the emergency room because it was too late that night and he…I didn’t do anything. I just…just sat there. I couldn’t move…I couldn’t but he…he hurt you and I wouldn’t…I didn’t want to see it…”

And Elijah sobbed as he covered his face. Gavin grabbed him and pulled him close.

“W-why didn’t I-didn’t I help you?! Why couldn’t-couldn’t I just—”

“It’s not your fault. It never was.” Gavin could feel Elijah trying to calm himself, trying to stop but he pushed him not to. “You don’t have to hold it in. Just let it out and fucking cry. You can cry now Elijah. You can,” Gavin murmured, silent tears of his own falling down his cheeks. God, he’d been such a fucking idiot.

Elijah did cry, wrapped around Gavin with his face buried into Gavin’s shirt, the noise ugly and broken and loud. It went on like that for a while, not surprising considering how long Elijah had held this all in. However, when the sobbing was a little quieter Gavin spoke again.

“But we’re not kids anymore. They’re fucking gone Elijah and they can’t do anything to us.”

“B-but I aband-doned you I—”

“I forgive you Elijah. I fucking forgive you and I’m sorry for every fucking fight we had after it.”

Elijah started to cry harder again.

“You’re not alone and I’m not fucking leaving you again,” Gavin continued, kissing Elijah on top of his head and hugging him a little tighter. “I’m your brother and I’m not going to let you go again.”

Gavin just continued to hold him. The afternoon wore on and Gavin made a point of starting the movie again. All that shit had happened but he wanted Elijah to know that they weren’t there now. They didn’t have to be afraid of their father coming in to reprimand them or anything Elijah’s mother would have done.

And so the movie played on and Elijah and Gavin fell asleep curled up on the couch. At one point, Chloe came back in, turning off the TV and carefully putting a blanket properly over them both, leaving them to sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

Gavin woke up when he felt the movement. He looked to see that he was still draped over Elijah, holding him close though a blanket had been added on top of them in the middle of the night.

“I wanted it to be a nightmare.”

Elijah’s voice broke the silence, pained and defeated at knowing the truth around him.

“I know,” murmured Gavin. “I wish it had been a nightmare too. I’m…I’m sorry for thinking you didn’t care.”

“I’m sorry I left,” Elijah whispered.

Gavin gave a comforting squeeze and he felt Elijah take his hand and return the favor.

They both slowly started to sit up, Elijah rubbing at his dry eyes before taking his smudged and tear stained glasses off to try his best to clean them.

“You look fucking awful. You know?”

And Elijah laughed despite how sore his throat was because only Gavin would just come out and say it like that. Elijah’s head hurt, his eyes hurt, everything fucking hurt but god he’d missed his brother. He hadn’t acknowledged that, not consciously before, but he’d missed him so damn much.

Gavin gently punched him in the shoulder. “Yeah, fucking missed you too asshole.”

“I’m glad to see you’re both up.”

Gavin looked over to see Chloe there. Elijah was quickly wiping at his face, not that it really changed anything. He still looked like shit, but he did get out, “Chloe, I believe I owe you an apology.”

“Not necessary,” she gently assured him. “I’m happy to see you both together, and not just you stalking your brother on your phone.”

Gavin snorted as Elijah looked away sheepishly. “I always knew you cared jackass.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Ok, shut up. You know what I mean,” Gavin said with a roll of his eyes.

Chloe smiled at the exchange and quickly added, “I made you both breakfast. I figured you’d be hungry. And I have some disinfectant for your lip Elijah.”

“Right…you punched me.”

“It just means we’re finally even,” smirked Gavin as he got to his feet. He quickly smacked at Elijah’s hands too as he tried to fix his hair. “Oh stop trying to fix your damn appearance and just come eat, ok? You look fucking human for once. Take it as a compliment.”

Elijah laughed again, relenting as he finally stood up. They went to the kitchen and as Chloe grabbed the plates, Gavin decided to ask a question, to put the past behind them for the moment and try and make up for all the lost time between them. “Alright, so you got to tell me. You fucking planned all this. Didn’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The whole robot revolution thing. Don’t lie! Connor told me you warned him about an escape protocol or whatever?”

“Wait, are you friends with an android dear brother?”

“Off topic and we’re not fucking friends. Now back to my question…”

Maybe it should have been a bit more awkward considering how much time had passed between them. But they were still siblings and Gavin still knew the best ways to annoy Elijah and Elijah knew the best ways to annoy him. Time had passed but it seemed the best parts hadn’t really changed. Besides, they had a lot of shit to catch up on. No time to be awkward about it.

After breakfast, Elijah said, “I know you have your job you need to get back to but…do you want to stay? For today that is?”

“Yeah…I would actually.”

And that was how Gavin found himself very much ruining the aesthetic and flow of Elijah’s house, but he was pretty sure his brother didn’t mind (at least for the most part). This time Chloe joined them and Elijah properly introduced them. Gavin was a lot more polite to her than he might have been at another time. Part of that was probably because of all the time he’d been spending with Connor but also because of how Chloe had helped him the day before.

It also helped that she seemed to take a liking to the chaos Gavin was only too happy to cause much to Elijah’s chagrin.

Gavin called Connor to update him and asked him to feed Boo that night as well. Connor ended up offering to pick him up the following morning and-hey! He offered so Gavin fucking took him up on it. It didn’t mean they were fucking friends.

But anyways, that day they watched more movies, Gavin convinced Chloe to get more junk food, and he managed to get Elijah to eat a good bit of it. As Elijah shoved another handful of Cheetos into his mouth, he muttered over the food, “I hate you for this. I’m going to make you eat a salad at some point.”

“You can fucking try!” laughed Gavin.

They talked some more, Elijah tried to teach Gavin the rules of chess but that went as well as the hundreds of other times he’d tried when they were younger. Then Gavin eventually convinced Elijah to go out into the yard because he had a massive space all to himself that was covered in snow and Gavin was practically going mad with how perfect and unturned it was.

Gavin managed to get a few good hits in, especially considering he was unfairly out matched as Chloe quickly defended Elijah with a flurry of snowballs until Gavin found himself on the ground.

The entire day, Gavin felt happy. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this happy and instead of concentrating on how sad a thought that was, he just concentrated on the moment. They fell asleep on the couch again in front of a movie and this time, Gavin fell asleep peacefully. He had his brother back. The last thing he’d thought would ever happen, the last thing he thought he wanted, but now he had him back and he was so fucking grateful.

The next day was a bit harder, having to say goodbye. However, when Elijah asked, “We’ll still talk right? I can give you my number and we can…we’ll talk?” Gavin had just hugged him as hard as he could, answer enough.

Connor came to pick him up and Elijah had chuckled, murmuring, “Not a friend huh?”

“Fuck off,” Gavin responded before hugging his brother again, saying goodbye to Chloe and leaving.

Having seen the hug, Connor said, “I’m assuming it went well?”

“It was painful and messy and hard as hit,” Gavin replied. “But the ending…the ending was good. Thank you Connor.”

“You’re welcome Gavin.”

“And don’t get fucking used to me saying that!”

“Of course Gavin,” Connor chuckled.

Connor dropped Gavin off at his home and handed him his keys back. “I’ll see you at work.”

Gavin nodded and quickly headed up to his apartment, planning on changing and taking a quick shower before he headed to work. He did just that, pausing to feed Boo and apologize to her for being gone for so long. Then he was ready and almost left except he caught sight of the picture on the kitchen counter. He’d tried to throw it away so many times, only now he was so fucking happy that he never had.

Next to the picture was a new frame that had definitely not been there before and a note. It was written in that perfect fucking font that only an android could do.

_I thought you’d like to put this in a frame again. Try to be more careful with this one._

Gavin shook his head, throwing the card to the side and carefully slipping the picture into the frame. “This still doesn’t mean you’re my fucking friend,” Gavin grumbled to himself, even if he was trying to fight a smile while saying it.

He put the picture back by his bed, grabbed his jacket, and headed to work.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Talk about fucking lucky that I managed to save this chapter elsewhere. I just had to send in my computer for repairs and it's going to be ages before I get it back argh! Still, really happy I managed to finish this before all that crap happened.
> 
> Again a massive thank you to everyone who read this and extra special thanks to those that left comments and kudos. I had a blast writing this and am so happy that people enjoyed it. Thank you for reading and thank you for your support! I hope you enjoy this last chapter <3

Gavin had been worried about if he and Elijah would actually stay in contact. However, the very same day that he’d left to go back to work, Elijah was texting him and asking questions, just trying to get answers to all the lost time they shared.

It had put a large smile on Gavin’s face while the entire precinct had just stared in pure confusion the whole day.

Elijah texted him a lot, even called sometimes. The next time Gavin met up with the Chloe that stayed with him, she said he’d probably replaced all the time he’d spent stalking him with finally talking to him. Gavin wasn’t sure if he’d ever get over that fact and knew there’d be one day he’d put the information to good use to hang over Elijah’s head.

The days passed and suddenly Christmas was there. It was insane to think that in a little less than two months, androids had become sentient and were legalized citizens now, Gavin had become friends with Connor (ok admitting it to himself was one thing, it would probably take a little longer before he said it to Connor), and he’d somehow reconciled and reconnected with his brother. Talk about a crazy fucking end to the year.

It was eleven o’clock on Christmas morning and Gavin had just arrived back at the station from a scene. As he brushed off the snow on him, his phone rang and he quickly answered it.

“Yeah?”

“Gavin, what are you doing today?”

Huh, it was Elijah. “Working mostly.”

“Really?”

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot all criminals get a day off today.”

“Alright wiseass. Just…will you have time off at all?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“It’s just…you never got to meet Carl and he…he’s important to me. This will likely be his last Christmas and I—”

“I’ll figure something out,” Gavin interrupted. He could tell Elijah was trying to act casual but it was still obvious how much he was hoping Gavin said yes. “Just hold on a second.”

Putting the phone on his desk, he looked around, immediately spotting Anderson and Connor. They’d come in that morning for some quick paperwork and a meeting and it seemed they were now getting ready to go home. Gavin dashed across the room to stand in front of Anderson.

“I need you to take the case I just got.”

Anderson blinked at him. “Why the hell would I do that!?”

Gavin bit his lip, trying to figure out a good enough excuse that Anderson would actually agree to. He couldn’t think of one until he saw how Connor was curiously looking at him. Oh this was going to raise hell later.

Grabbing Connor and slinging an arm around his shoulders, Gavin said, “Because it’ll be a favor from one friend to another.”

Anderson’s eyes practically jumped out of his head as a smile lit up Connor’s face.

“Yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas and all that shit,” mumbled Gavin to Connor. “Just please.”

“But the eggnog and the food,” moaned Anderson, referring to all that he had waiting at home.

“The importance of the holiday is to spend time together Hank,” Connor said. “And we’d still be doing that no matter if it’s here or at home.”

Anderson let out a disbelieving grumble.

Ok, Gavin had to think of something else. “I will buy you as much fucking whiskey or beer or whatever the fuck you want if you agree.”

“I’m sorry but that won’t work,” Connor said. “Hank has been watching his health which includes—”

“Now, now Connor, the man’s finally speaking reason. Let’s hear what he has to say.”

Connor rolled his eyes as Gavin repeated, “I’ll buy you fucking anything, just…please.”

Anderson’s eyes roamed up and down him before he muttered, “To think I’d see a day where Gavin fucking Reed says please. Yeah, fine kid. We’ll fucking take it.”

“Thank you!”

Anderson shook his head in more disbelief and said, “What the hell do you even have to do?”

“I’m meeting up with my brother.”

“Didn’t realize you had any family.”

“Neither did I for a while.”

“What the hell does that mean!? Connor, stop laughing. What the hell does that mean? Do you know something?”

As Connor just coyly shrugged, Gavin ran back to his desk and snatched his phone up. “Ok I figured everything out. Am I meeting you somewhere or…?”

“Carl’s house in about an hour. And meeting there will probably be easiest. I’ll text you the address.”

 “Ok, sounds good. See you soon.”

Gavin hung up and quickly sent the information of the case over to Anderson’s desk before finally leaving. As he got into his car, he couldn’t help but admit he was a bit nervous. Though he’d only met Amanda Stern a few times and hadn’t really liked her, she’d been important to Elijah. She’d gotten him through a hell of a tough time, even if Elijah hadn’t acknowledged it back then.

Gavin had only heard about Carl, never actually met him, and now that he and Elijah were talking again and Gavin was a little bit more of an adult (emphasis on a _little_ ), he wanted to make a good impression. He went home, found a shirt that didn’t have any grease stains on it and a jacket with one little rip in the arm and…well the jeans and shoes were really all he had. He shaved again because he hadn’t done that in a while and…ok yeah he honestly looked the same but a little cleaner. It wasn’t his fault he had no fashion sense!

With a sigh, he decided he’d done all that he could do and figured he might as well head over. Traffic wasn’t too bad as Gavin drove across town, finally parking in front of the address Elijah had texted him. The place was massive but clearly was going for an older style rather than Elijah’s more modern aesthetic.

He quickly texted his brother to see where he was and Elijah replied, _I’m coming to the door now_.

Gavin quickly got out and walked up the snowy path, getting to the door as it opened automatically with Elijah standing there.

“I’m glad you were able to make it.”

Gavin nodded in agreement, walking into the large foyer.

“So, what are we doing? Here I mean? Are we just meeting him or…”

“Yes, his health is weak enough as is. No need to push him. I figured after we talked for a bit we could do a late lunch or something.”

“Sounds good to me,” Gavin replied, following Elijah up the stairs.

“And fair warning, Markus is currently here as well.”

“Markus who-you mean the deviant leader!”

Elijah nodded.

“Shit he-oh yeah. I think the news…and Connor…yeah ok I remember that now. So he seriously came back to the guy who once owned him?”

“It was far more than that. A familial bond that has only grown stronger with what has happened in recent weeks,” Elijah murmured.

“Let me guess, you planned for this too huh?”

Elijah just gave a sly smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Carl is simply a wonderful influence.”

Gavin rolled his eyes as they walked out onto a balcony over a massive living room area and then went to one of the doors. It opened automatically and Gavin took in the low lit, but festively decorated room.

“This is Markus,” Elijah said, indicating the easily recognizable deviant leader, “Carl, and his son Leo.”

“Gavin,” the old man in the bed warmly said, “it’s good to finely meet you. Elijah’s told me a lot about you.”

“Wait he ha-you have? When?”

Elijah shrugged. “Just…things here and there.”

“Nonsense, he adores you,” Carl murmured. “Now come here so I can get a proper look at you.”

Gavin couldn’t help but be amused by Elijah’s slight blush. To think there was someone still around that could utterly fucking embarrass Elijah Kamski of all people. Of course, there was also that thought of just how fucking stupid it had all been. How they’d wasted so much damn time being too fucking stubborn. It would be a while before those thoughts didn’t immediately pop into Gavin’s head. For the moment though, he shooed them away and sat next to the old man.

“So you’re a detective, aren’t you?”

“Yes sir.”

“No need for that. Carl is perfectly fine,” he chuckled. “So tell me…”

Gavin had to admit, though not one for old people, it was hard not to become interested by Carl. Even on what looked like his death bed, he managed to crack some good jokes and took no shit when Gavin subconsciously tried to speak slower and louder for him.”

“It’s the damn heart that’s given out. My ears are fine kid,” Carl laughed, even though he did go into a coughing fit afterwards.

As they talked, Gavin couldn’t help but glance at Markus, just fucking amazed that he was sitting near the deviant leader of all people (and also not instinctively wanting to strangle him). He’d have to remember some of the questions that were popping up in his head now to ask Connor later, or even Elijah for that matter.

Once the spotlight moved off of him, the conversation went back to mainly Markus and Leo with Elijah occasionally commenting on something they’d said. It was surprisingly nice up until Gavin caught sight of a sudden change. Carl’s attention was turned away and no one else seemed to notice.

And to be honest, Gavin had no idea what had triggered it. He just knew the momentary panic and the way Elijah was forcing himself to breath regularly without alerting anyone. Considering some time had passed and Carl was tiring, Gavin chose to take control of the situation. He stood up and said, “Thank you for letting me over Carl. It was good to meet you.”

“Leaving already? I hope it’s not because you think I’m too damn old and need to sleep or something,” Carl chuckled.

“Not at all,” Gavin smirked. “Elijah and I just have plans and I’m sure you’d like some time with your family. I’m glad I finally met you.”

“As am I Gavin. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas Carl, Markus, Leo,” Gavin politely said. Elijah said goodbye too and then Gavin gently took him by the arm and pulled him out of the room. He didn’t saying anything right away, just held onto him and waited until they were at least at the stairs first. “Hey, are you ok?”

“It-it was nothing I just—”

“Elijah, please don’t try and do that. I saw you freeze up. What was it?”

“Just…it was nothing it was…Leo just said something and I thought of…I didn’t want to think of it but it still came—”

“Hey, just because we had our angry fucking fight doesn’t mean everything got fixed,” Gavin gently said. “This…it’s happened before. Right? In the past days. Just little things that jump at you for no reason?”

Elijah silently nodded.

“Please tell me Chloe refuses to fucking deal with you trying to avoid shit.”

“She certainly tries when she’s present for it,” murmured Elijah with a slight hint of humor in his voice.

“Good. And just…I’m here. If something happens and you need to talk about it, I’m here.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. That’s the problem,” Elijah whispered.

“I know but-actually, I’ll just have Chloe force you to call me,” Gavin grinned.

“And if you’re in the middle of something work related?”

“I can investigate a corpse and talk to my brother at the same time. It’s called multi-tasking.”

Elijah let out an incredulous laugh before quickly hugging Gavin. He hugged his brother back before they pulled apart and Gavin asked, “So what the hell are we doing next? Actually, where is Chloe?”

“She doesn’t come to the city often. There are several events downtown that she wished to experience.”

“Let’s meet up with her then.”

“You realize that I haven’t been in the public eye for years, right?” Elijah said with a raised eyebrow. “I would likely just complicate the experience.”

“Well you’re right. You haven’t been in the public eye for a while. Let’s see, you’re a bit older which will help, don’t have your glasses on either and…hmm.” Gavin quickly went around and took Elijah’s hair down before he could stop him.

“Hey!”

Gavin ruffled his hair and then grabbed a beanie from that was lying on the side table by the door.

“That’s Leo’s—”

“We’re borrowing it. Alright? You can give it back to him later,” Gavin replied as he forced the hat onto Elijah’s head. “There, now you look like a homeless guy that murdered a billionaire and stole his very nice jacket.”

Elijah rolled his eyes.

“It’ll be fine, ok? Besides, we haven’t done something fucking normal like this in god damn years.”

“You’re right…fine I’ll contact Chloe and see where she is.”

“Cool. We’ll take my car. Come on,” Gavin said, finally walking out of the house and back down the driveway. He got in as Elijah briefly talked to Chloe and got her location. Elijah told Gavin where to go and he quickly pulled into the street.

Whereas the rest of the city was mostly asleep for the holiday excerpt for the occasional twenty-four/seven gas station or grocery store, the traffic downtown just continuously kept building until finally Gavin pulled over, deciding it was best to take advantage of the open parking space he spotted. They got out and continued to head downtown as a new wave of snow started to fall.

They headed to Campus Martius Park. There were vendors out with hot drinks, the trees were lit and sparkled in the low light of the cloudy day, and children screamed and laughed from the rink. From what Gavin had seen, many humans and androids had remained a polite distance from each other in the past weeks, tensions still high and political negotiations still in the works. However, it seemed the holiday spirit had warmed its way into everyone’s hearts, biological and mechanical. The androids were easier to pick out, even the ones without LEDs as they didn’t have to wear as many layers of clothing, but for the moment it seemed prejudice and fear had been put aside even if only for the day.

Gavin stopped, realizing that Elijah was no longer beside him and quickly turned to see he had frozen near the edge of the square, unmoving and just staring at everything around him. Gavin quickly jogged over and gently nudged him.

“Hey, you alright?”

“I’m…fine.”

Gavin found that he actually believed Elijah this time but he still said, “Then what’s with the fucking look?”

“It’s just…I’m sure tensions will appear again after the holidays but still…”

Right. Of course Elijah had been keeping up with recent news but this was the first time he’d seen his…creations, people, family, children, however he thought of them. Gavin didn’t really know but it had to be a…very odd experience for his brother.

Elijah softly laughed. “Amanda would have hated this. She always hated being wrong.”

“What did she expect? Nuclear apocalypse?”

“It could have happened. One little choice…a misstep or an unsympathetic decision and…boom,” Elijah whispered. “Civil War Two.”

They both stared, taking in the gravity of the situation, how lucky they probably were to be able to be standing there…

And then Gavin hit Elijah upside the head as hard as he could.

“ _Ow_!”

“That’s for playing god you little shit. And next time you decided to risk World War III, give me a warning so I can get the fuck out of here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Elijah sarcastically muttered.

“You fucking better,” replied Gavin as he grabbed Elijah and continued to drag him forward into the square.

They walked for a bit, just taking in everything and enjoying the square until Gavin demanded Elijah buy him some mulled wine and food.

“Wow, demanding drink and food from me. Very in the spirit of the holiday.”

“I’m a fucking detective. You’re a god damn billionaire or whatever fucking number you’re at. I’m hungry. Now buy me some shit.”

Elijah rolled his eyes and relented.

With hands a bit warmer and Gavin shoving a funnel cake into his mouth and getting powder everywhere, they continued walking around until Gavin mumbled out, “So where exactly is Chloe?”

“I think by the rink. This way.”

They walked over and leaned up against the wall of the rink. Kids and families skated around trying to support each other, couples held hands or linked arms, some moving effortlessly and others screaming as they slipped and fell.

“There she is,” Elijah smiled.

Gavin caught sight of a Chloe moving around the couples and families. She slid to a stop and bent down, helping a little boy to get back on his feet.

“How do you know that’s her and not just another Chloe model?”

“I just know.”

“How? You got some kind of chip in your head that lets you just zero in on the differences or some shit?” asked Gavin as he knocked on the side of Elijah’s head.

“Hey! Will you stop hitting me?”

“Listen, I haven’t been able to do it for years and I’m just trying to get back in the role of the annoying little brother.”

“Well you’re doing it perfectly.”

“Thank you.”

Elijah just lightly shoved Gavin and Gavin of course retaliated a little harder just as Chloe spotted them. She zipped over before perfectly halting in front of them.

“Gavin, it’s good to see you,” she brightly said and the way she was looking at Elijah made it clear she was happy he was there too. “You should both skate with me.”

“Uh, no thanks,” Gavin quickly said.

“Ah, that’s right. You have the grace of the ugly duckling if I remember correctly,” commented Elijah. “As it’s also the job of the older brother to be annoying in his own way, let me just say, we’re going.”

“Fuck no! I’m still eating and drinking anyways!”

Without any warning, Elijah downed his cup in one go, snatched Gavin’s and downed it, grabbed the last part of the funnel cake, shoved it in his mouth, and swallowed.

“Now there’s not an issue. We’re going.”

“And they said I had no impulse control!” cried Gavin as Elijah grabbed him and dragged him over to where they were renting skates.

Chloe skated to the entrance and waited for them to come over. Elijah unceremoniously shoved Gavin onto the ice where he panicked like a cartoon character and finally fell on his ass. Elijah laughed, stepping out with ease only for Gavin to grab him by the leg and send him tumbling to the ground as well.

“Who’s laughing now prick?” smirked Gavin.

Chloe just rolled her eyes. She leaned over and grabbed them both, pulling them up and still remaining perfectly balanced herself.

“Don’t worry Gavin, I’ll keep you on your feet.”

“Easier said than done,” snorted Elijah as Gavin reached over and hit him in the shoulder again.

To keep them from trying to do that again, Chloe simply pushed off and let go of Elijah. He easily kept up but Chloe had to keep a tight hold on Gavin to keep him from falling over again.

They went round and round for a bit, Gavin staying stapled to Chloe. After a few minutes had passed though, Elijah finally stumbled as the mulled wine hit him and went straight into the wall, just barely holding on from falling over.

“Alright, maybe drinking those two cups wasn’t the best idea.”

Gavin howled with laughter as he and Chloe sped over, Chloe picking Elijah up with ease.

“Perhaps that’s enough for now,” she suggested.

“Fucking finally,” sighed Gavin.

Once they were off the ice and Gavin was out of the fucking impossible skates, he said, “How about that late-ok less lunch now, more like dinner. But you could come over.”

“Wait, us come to your apartment?” asked Elijah.

“Listen, it’s not like I have a full kitchen to make a whole Christmas dinner or some shit but I mean…you’ve never been over and…you could meet my cat so…yeah if you want and…you know if Carl doesn’t mind your car staying outside his house.”

“He wouldn’t mind,” said Elijah just as Chloe said, “You have a cat!”

Gavin couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess that’s a yes then.”

They headed back to the car, and Gavin drove his brother and Chloe to his apartment. Talk about fucking surreal.

He walked in first and Boo jumped off the counter from where she’d been lying, curious about the new smells that were coming into the apartment.

“You know, when I think of you living on your own…this is exactly what I think of.”

“Thanks,” snorted Gavin. He walked over and Boo painfully climbed him before he grabbed her up in his arms. She yowled as he said, “Boo, this is my brother Elijah and his friend Chloe.”

“You know she can’t understand you right?” Elijah asked as he stepped close.

Boo hissed and tried to swat at him.

“Good girl,” Gavin smirked.

“Can I hold her?” Chloe asked.

“Sure, but fair warning. She bites.”

Chloe didn’t seem to mind, immediately taking Boo into her arms. Admittedly, it was pretty damn amusing watching Boo bite Chloe’s hand only to become very, very confused.

Gavin chuckled and walked towards the kitchen.

“Should I prepare myself to be disappointed?” snorted Elijah.

“Very.”

Gavin pulled out a frozen honey ham meant for four, a can of sweet carrots, a can of cranberry sauce, a box of flakes that made mashed potatoes, and a thing of crescent rolls.

“Hmm, not as bad as I was expecting,” Elijah said. “Though I am surprised at the amount. Were you expecting someone?”

“No. I’ve just gotten into a pattern of making a shit ton of food, stuffing my face, and then eating leftovers for the next week.”

“Healthy,” Elijah sarcastically said. “What do you want to start with?”

They both went to work, Chloe joining as she finally put Boo down who then proceeded to try and cause as much trouble as possible. At one point Gavin pulled out a thing of mulled wine, poured it into a cracked mug, and then shoved it into the microwave.

“You did not just do that,” Elijah said with a disgusted look.

“I totally did.”

When the microwave dinged, Gavin made a point of taking it out and looking Elijah dead in the eyes as he took a sip.

“I fucking hate you.”

“So much so that you apparently stalked me online for years and, I quote, adore me.”

“Lies, all lies.”

“Uh huh.”

They continued working on the food, Elijah starting to get into a groove. Gavin slipped a mug into his hands and Elijah automatically took a sip before realizing what it was and glaring at Gavin. “Bastard.”

“I try,” chuckled Gavin as Chloe stuck the tip of her finger into Elijah’s mug and licked it.

“It’s not that bad.”

“You disappoint me,” groaned Elijah.

Time passed and eventually everything was either made or had already been scooped into other containers.

Gavin went and turned on the TV, searching through everything before landing on a film.

“What the hell is that?” asked Elijah.

“ _Die Hard: Dead to Rights_. It’s the twelfth film in the franchise.”

“They’re still making these?”

“Kind of. It was an attempt to reboot the franchise. It’s cheesy as shit but at least they went back to the Christmas setting.”

“You own all of them, don’t you?”

“Of fucking course.”

Elijah rolled his eyes and went to grab the food and drink.

They all sat down on the couch, Elijah in the middle with Chloe and Gavin on either side. Chloe continuously poked at Elijah’s food to taste it herself as the film kept playing. For whatever reason, the movie was playing on repeat on whatever backwaters channel Gavin had found.

So the film played again. And again.

“You know,” Elijah slurred as he looked at his mug. “After the sixth cup…it really isn’t that bad. And somehow the movie makes even less *hic!* since after watching it for a third time.”

Gavin giggled, cheeks flushed as he remained slumped on the couch.

“Seeing you both inebriated is quite amusing,” Chloe commented.

Gavin just kept giggling as Chloe tried to get up to take the plates but Elijah waved at her to sit back down.

“We’ll clean it up in the morning,” he murmured.

“Alright Elijah.” Chloe left the plates but did walk away to go and search Gavin’s closet as Elijah slumped over onto his brother’s shoulder.

“I’m really, really happy we’re talking again,” mumbled Elijah.

“Yeah. Fucking love you too.”

“Language.”

“Language smangl-smonglua-sm-fucking language. I’m thirty-four no eight! Six…I think.”

They both fell into a mass of giggles, Elijah hugging Gavin around his midsection and Gavin’s head thrown back.

By the time Chloe got back, they had both already passed out. She shook out the folded blanket in her hands and carefully draped it over the two snoring brothers. Boo walked over and Chloe picked her up with much less protest now.

“Merry Christmas,” Chloe whispered.


End file.
